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THE  CAPTURE  OF 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS 


PART  TAKEN  BY  WISCONSIN  TROOPS 


HENRY  HARNDEN 

BREVET  BRIGADIER-GENERAL;  LATE  COMMANDER 

OF  THE  FIRS.J  WSJW 


MADISON,  WIS. 
1898 


H 


TRACY,  GIBBS  A  CO.,  PRINTERS 
MADISON,  WIS. 


PREFACE. 


THE  following  account  of  the  part  taken 
by  the  First  Wisconsin  Cavalry  in  the 
Capture  of  Jefferson  Davis  was  originally 
prepared  substantially  as  it  is  now  pre 
sented,  at  the  request  of  Comrades  of 
the  G.  A.  R.,  and  has  already  been  given 
before  a  number  of  the  different  Posts. 
It  has  been  put  into  its  present  form  for 
the  reason  that  it  is  believed  it  will  be  a 
pleasure  to  the  surviving  members  of  the 
regiments,  and  to  their  children  and 
friends  to  have  the  same  for  convenient 
perusal. 

My  personal  recollection  has  been  re 
freshed  as  far  as  possible  by  re-reading 
the  official  records  and  reports  made  at 
the  time,  and  also  by  letters  and  corre 
spondence  had  with  persons  who  took 
part  in  the  capture.  I  have  endeavored 
to  make  it  as  correct  as  possible,  and  the 
3 

M181781 


4  Preface. 

more  so  on  account  of  the  very  unfortu 
nate  collision  which  took  place  between 
the  First  Wisconsin  and  the  Fourth 
Michigan  Cavalry,  mention  of  which  it 
seems  almost  necessary  to  make  in  any 
narrative  concerning  the  matter.  I  have 
endeavored  to  tell  a  plain  story  in  a  plain 
way,  and  as  such  I  submit  it  to  the  judg 
ment  of  my  comrades  who  took  part  with 
me  in  the  struggle  which  occurred  almost 
a  generation  since. 

HENRY  HARNDEN. 

Madison,  November  8,  1898. 


Gbe  Ston?  of  tbc  Capture  of 
3effereon 


~j*  FTER  the  defeat  of  Hood's 
J^  \  army  at  Nashville,  Tennes- 
VS>  see  by  General  Thomas, 
on  the  1 5th  and  1 6th  of  December, 
1864,  the  Union  cavalry  under  Gen 
eral  Wilson  pursued  the  retreating 
rebels  until  the  remnants  of  their 
army  escaped  across  the  Tennessee 
river  into  Mississippi.  General  Wil 
son  encamped  his  cavalry  at  Gravelly 
Springs  and  Waterloo,  along  the 
line  of  the  Tennessee,  preparatory 
to  the  commencement  of  his  great 
raid  through  Alabama  and  Georgia, 
which  resulted  in  the  rout  of  the 
5 


6  The  Capture  of 

rebel  General  Forest,  and  the  scat 
tering  and  capture  of  the  greater 
part  of  his  army,  also  the  capture 
of  Selman  and  Montgomery,  Ala 
bama,  and  Columbus  and  West- 
point,  Georgia,  finally  winding  up 
with  the  capture  of  Macon,  Georgia. 
The  First  Wisconsin  Cavalry  com 
posed  a  part  of  these  forces,  and 
bore  a  conspicuous  part  in  all  that 
was  accomplished  on  this,  the  great 
est  and  most  successful  cavalry  raid 
of  the  war. 

The  rebel  army  which  General 
Thomas  defeated  at  Nashville  was 
the  same  that  had  opposed  General 
Sherman  from  Chattanooga  to  At 
lanta  the  previous  summer,  and 
was,  at  the  time  of  the  battle  of 
Nashville,  composed  of  about  forty 
thousand  of  the  best  troops  of  the 
confederacy,  but  so  total  was  their 
defeat  and  rout  that  when  they 


Jefferson  Davis.  7 

finally  got  across  Tennessee,  there 
was  only  about  twelve  thousand  of 
their  infantry  left.  General  Wilson, 
with  the  First,  Second,  and  Third 
Divisions  of  the  Cavalry  Corps,  and 
three  batteries  of  artillery,  about 
fifteen  thousand  men,  crossed  the 
Tennessee  river  on  the  nth  day  of 
March,  1865,  at  Chickasaw,  Ala 
bama,  arriving  at  Macon,  Georgia, 
April  20,  1865. 

While  resting  quietly  in  camp 
about  two  miles  north  of  the  city  on 
the  evening  of  May  6,  1865,  I  re 
ceived  orders  to  report  at  once  to 
headquarters.  I  mounted  my  horse 
and  rode  over  to  headquarters  as  or 
dered.  I  there  found  General  J.  G. 
Croxton  in  command,  in  the  absence 
of  General  McCook.  The  General 
informed  me  that  it  was  reported 
that  Jeff.  Davis  was  in  South  Caro 
lina,  making  his  way  south  into 


8  The  Capture  of 

Georgia,  that  a  portion  of  his  cab 
inet  was  with  him,  and  that  they 
were  accompanied  by  six  or  seven 
hundred  men;  that  I  had  been  se 
lected  to  command  a  detachment  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  men  from  the 
First  Wisconsin  Cavalry  to  go  and 
endeavor  to  cut  him  off  and  capture 
him  if  possible;  that  I  must  march 
immediately  and  not  wait  for  rations. 
I  enquired  if  he  thought  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  men  a  sufficient  num 
ber  to  take  on  the  expedition.  He 
replied  "That  in  the  opinion  of 
General  Wilson,  it  was."  He  said 
that  the  escort  of  Davis  was  greatly 
demoralized,  and  many  were  leaving 
him;  that  they  would  be  poorly 
armed,  and  it  was  doubtful  if  they 
would  fight  at  all,  but  if  they  should 
fight,  he  would  risk  our  being  able 
to  take  care  of  them.  He  also  said 
the  country  through  which  our  route 


Jefferson  Davis.  9 

lay  was  very  poor,  and  that  it  would 
be  difficult  to  subsist  a  large  party, 
and  that  we  must  start  immediately 
and  not  wait  for  rations,  adding,  as 
I  left  him,  that  if  there  was  a  fight 
and  Jeff.  Davis  should  get  hurt, 
General  Wilson  would  not  feel  very 
bad  over  it. 

I  then  returned  to  my  camp,  and 
soon  had  a  detail  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  men  selected,  all  well  armed 
and  mounted,  ready  to  march. 

It  was  about  sunset  when  we 
passed  through  Macon,  and  crossed 
the  bridge  over  the  Ochemulgee 
river,  and  then  took  a  line  of  march 
towards  Savannah.  General  Crox- 
ton  had  furnished  me  with  a  large 
map  of  Georgia,  so  that  I  was  able 
to  shape  our  course  correctly.  Dur 
ing  the  night  we  came  to  a  planta 
tion  where  there  was  forage,  so  we 
halted  and  fed  our  horses.  Up  to 


io  The  Capture  of 

this  time  the  men  had  no  idea  as  to 
where  we  were  going  or  for  what 
purpose  we  had  been  ordered  out. 

When  ready  to  mount  our  horses, 
I  made  known  the  object  of  our  ex 
pedition.  I  frankly  told  them  that 
if  we  encountered  Davis  and  his  es 
cort  they  would  greatly  outnumber 
us,  and  were  probably  the  pick  of 
the  Confederate  army;  that  they 
would  no  doubt  fight  desperately; 
that  it  would  be  a  battle  to  the  death, 
and  that  Jeff.  Davis  must  not  be 
allowed  to  escape  in  any  event,  but 
as  we  had  never  been  whipped,  I 
had  no  fear  of  being  whipped  now. 
All  of  which  was  greeted  with 
cheers. 

We  continued  our  march  all  night 
and  the  next  day  (May  7th)  until 
near  evening,  when  we  arrived  at 
Dublin,  a  considerable  town,  sit 
uated  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Oconee 


Jefferson  Davis.  n 

river.  I  had  sent  out  scouting  par 
ties  during  the  night  and  day,  to  en 
deavor  to  get  information  in  regard 
to  parties  who  were  continually 
crossing  our  road,  to  ascertain  if 
some  of  them  might  not  be  the 
Davis  party,  but  these  men  always 
proved  to  be  from  General  John 
ston's  army,  who,  having  surren 
dered  a  short  time  before  to  General 
Sherman,  were  going  home  on  pa 
role. 

These  diversions  caused  our  march 
to  be  somewhat  delayed.  Upon  ar 
riving  at  Dublin  I  noticed  the  people 
appeared  considerably  excited  at 
our  presence,  but  I  caused  it  to  be 
given  out  that  we  were  establishing 
courier  posts  between  Macon  and 
Savannah,  a  little  piece  of  strategy 
allowable  in  a  military  campaign. 
We  bivouaced  on  a  flat  between  the 
town  and  the  river.  I  had  several 


12  The  Capture  of 

invitations  from  gentlemen  to  take 
up  my  quarters  at  their  houses,  and 
for  some  reason  they  appeared  quite 
anxious  I  should  do  so;  all  of  which 
surprised  me,  as  I  had  never  been 
the  recipient  of  such  attentions  be 
fore. 

By  some  means  I  got  an  inkling 
that  a  party  with  wagons  had  passed 
through  the  town  that  day,  but  to 
my  questions  as  to  who  they  were  I 
got  only  evasive  answers,  but  I 
finally  concluded  it  was  some  sutler 
from  Johnston's  army.  The  town 
was  full  of  rebel  officers  in  uniform, 
and  as  they  stood  in  groups  by 
themselves,  talking,  I  thought  their 
looks  boded  no  good  to  us.  Po 
litely  declining  all  invitations,  I 
made  my  bivouac  with  the  com 
mand,  and  being  weary  with  thirty- 
six  hours  of  duty,  twenty-four  of 
which  had  been  spent  in  the  saddle, 


Jefferson  Davis.  13 

we  threw  ourselves  upon  the  ground 
to  sleep. 

For  several  months  I  had  been 
served  by  an  old  colored  man  named 
"Bill."  He  had  been  a  slave  and 
owned  by  a  staff  officer  of  General 
Bragg.  He  had  often  waited  upon 
General  Bragg  as  well  as  his  master, 
but  when  the  rebels  were  hustled 
out  of  Tennessee  by  General  Rosen- 
cranse  in  1863,  Bill  got  left  behind 
and  fell  in  with  us,  and  I  employed 
him.  He  was  as  homely  as  a  hedge 
hog  and  a  perfect  tyrant  over  the 
other  darkies,  but  he  was  as  true  as 
steel  to  me,  and  withal  very  intelli 
gent.  He  happened  to  be  with  us 
on  this  expedition. 

I  had  scarcely  lain  down  to  sleep 
when  "Bill"  came  and  touched  me. 
"Colonel,  Colonel,"  he  said,  "wake 
up;  I  have  found  a  colored  man  who 
will  tell  you  something."  "Well, 


14  The  Capture  of 

what  is  it?"  said  I.  It  was  dark  as 
pitch,  but  I  could  see  the  whites  of 
their  eyes,  and  I  knew  they  had 
something  important  to  tell. 

The  man  said  Jeff.  Davis  had  been 
in  town  that  day.  I  said,  "How 
do  you  know  it  was  Jeff.  Davis? 
what  makes  you  think  so?"  "Well," 
he  said,  "all  the  gentlemen  called 
him  President  Davis,  and  he  had  his 
wife  with  him,  and  she  was  called 
Mrs.  Davis." 

He  said  they  had  come  over  the 
river  on  a  ferry.  They  had  a  num 
ber  of  nice  wagons  with  them,  and 
some  fine  saddle-horses  led  behind 
the  wagon  in  which  President  Davis 
and  his  wife  rode.  He  further  said 
that  they  were  going  to  dine  with 
Judge  Rose  (Judge  Rose  was  one  of 
the  gentlemen  who  had  been  so  per 
sistent  in  urging  me  to  spend  the 
night  at  his  house),  but  before  they 


Jefferson  Davis.  15 

could    get   the    dinner   ready   they 
heard  something  that  made  the  party 
leave  in  a  hurry,  going  south  on  the 
river  road.      He  further  stated  that 
there  was  another    large  party  that 
did  not  come  over  the  river.    I  ques 
tioned  him  closely,  and  his  answers 
appeared  straight,  but   I  was  fearful 
of  a  trick  to  send  me  off  on  some 
side-track.      I  said  to  Bill,   "Do  you 
think  he  is  telling  me  the  truth,  and 
that  I  ought  to  believe  him?"    "Sar- 
tin,  shoor,  Kurnel;  you  can  believe 
him;  he  is  telling  you  God's  troof." 
It  will  be  seen  that  if  Bill  had  not 
been  with  us  we  would  have  known 
nothing  of  Davis  having  crossed  our 
track,  and  we  would  have  gone  the 
next  morning  toward  Savannah,  and 
Jeff.  Davis  would  in  all  probabilities 
have  escaped  capture  and  got  away 
into   Cuba,  in  company  with  Judah 


1 6  The  Capture  of 

P.  Benjamin  and  others,  or  across 
the  Mississippi  to  Kirby  Smith. 

To  get  a  little  more  information  I 
called  up  a  couple  of  men  and  went 
down  to  the  ferry  and  interviewed 
the  ferryman  as  to  whom  he  had 
brought  over  the  river  that  day,  but 
I  could  get  nothing  out  of  him.  He 
was  either  too  stupid  or  ignorant,  or 
too  obstinate,  to  give  us  any  infor 
mation  of  importance.  I  have  al 
ways  been  sorry  that  we  did  not 
throw  the  old  scamp  into  the  river, 
as  my  sergeant  wanted  to  do. 

As  soon  as  we  got  back  to  the 
bivouac  I  called  up  the  men  to  sad 
dle  for  a  march.  Lieutenant  Hew 
itt,  with  thirty  men,  had  been  left 
back  at  some  cross-roads  and  had 
not  yet  come  up,  so  detailing  Lieu 
tenant  Lane,  with  forty-five  men  to 
remain  at  Dublin,  and  scout  from 
there  up  and  down  the  river,  I  with 


Jefferson  Davis.  17 

the  balance  (seventy-five  men), 
started  south  in  the  direction  the 
Davis  party  was  reported  to  have 
taken.  It  was  very  dark  and  the 
roads  in  the  pine  woods  were  only 
trails.  We  soon  became  confused, 
and  after  wandering  around  for  some 
time,  found  ourselves  coming  into 
Dublin  again.  Picking  our  road 
once  more,  and  daylight  coming,  we 
struck  out  on  the  river  road  at  a 
rapid  gait,  on  the  morning  of 
May  8th.  Five  miles  out  we 
came  to  Turkey  creek  where  we 
found  the  bridge  torn  up.  While 
the  bridge  was  being  repaired,  I 
strolled  up  to  a  log  house  near  by 
and  questioned  the  woman  in  regard 
to  the  party  who  had  crossed  the 
evening  before. 

She  said  a  large  party  had  passed, 
but  she  did  not  know  who  they  were, 
but  she  said  that  a  couple  of  the 


1 8  The  Capture  of 

gentlemen  had  been  in  her  house 
and  drank  some  milk,  and  she 
showed  me  a  little  scrap  of  paper 
which  she  said  they  had  dropped. 
I  saw  it  was  a  piece  of  a  Richmond 
paper  of  recent  date.  A  bright  lit 
tle  girl  standing  by,  said  she  had 
heard  one  gentleman  call  the  other 
Colonel  Harrison,  and  the  other  was 
addressed  as  Mr.  President.  Upon 
my  inquiring  as  to  how  they  were 
dressed,  she  said  they  were  almost 
as  handsomely  dressed  as  I  was, 
but  their  coats  were  not  alike. 
Pointing  to  my  shoulder-straps,  I 
inquired  if  they  had  such  things  on 
their  coats,  she  said  "No,  they  had 
not,  but  one  had  stars  on  his  collar 
and  gold  on  his  sleeves,  but  the 
other  had  nothing,  and  neither  one 
was  like  mine."  The  child's  descrip 
tion  convinced  me  that  one  was  an 
officer  of  high  rank  and  the  other 


Jefferson  Davis.  19 

Jeff.  Davis.  So  convinced  was  I 
that  I  had  really  now  got  on  the 
track  of  Jeff.  Davis,  that  I  wrote  a 
dispatch  and  started  a  courier  with  it 
to  General  Wilson,  but  the  man  was 
captured  by  some  confederates, 
taken  into  the  woods,  robbed  of  his 
horse  and  equipments  and  left  to 
make  his  way  to  Macon  on  foot, 
which  he  did,  but  not  until  after  my 
return  there. 

The  bridge  being  repaired  we 
pushed  on  again  through  the  pine 
woods.  The  wagon  tracks  could 
now  be  plainly  seen,  but  it  soon 
commenced  to  rain  a  regular  pour- 
down  and  the  tracks  we  were  fol 
lowing  were  obliterated.  We  were 
now  in  the  great  pine  woods  of  the 
south,  the  soil  nothing  but  white 
sand  with  scarcely  an  inhabitant, 
and  soon  lost  all  track  of  the  party 
ahead,  but  still  pushed  blindly  on. 


20  The  Capture  of 

I  sent  parties  circling  around  to  find 
the  road,  but  they  were  unsuccess 
ful.  They,  however,  found  a  horse 
man  and  brought  him  to  me.  In 
reply  to  my  questions,  he  said  he 
knew  nothing  of  any  party,  that  he 
was  only  a  poor  citizen  hunting 
some  lost  sheep. 

I  noticed  that  he  was  riding  a  fine 
horse.  I  told  him  that  I  would  take 
his  horse  and  he  could  hunt  his  sheep 
on  foot.  At  this  he  began  to  plead 
earnestly.  I  told  him  to  quit  lying 
and  tell  me  where  the  wagons  were 
that  had  been  somewhere  near  there 
the  evening  before  and  I  would  let 
him  go  with  his  horse.  He  then 
confessed  he  did  know  where  the 
party  had  camped  over  night,  but  it 
was  eleven  miles  away  and  in  an 
other  direction  entirely  from  that  in 
which  we  were  headed. 

"Guide   us   there,"   said   I,    "and 


Jefferson  Davis.  21 

you  will  have  your  horse,  otherwise 
you  go  home  on  foot;"  to  this  he 
agreed.  In  order  that  this  man 
might  not  lose  his  way  I  had  him 
ride  between  two  good  men  with 
loaded  carbines.  He  took  us  in  a 
westerly  direction  to  where  the  Davis 
party  had  been  in  camp,  but  they 
were  gone. 

According  to  promise,  I  dismissed 
the  guide,  and  he  left  us  in  a  hurry. 
We  found  here  a  poor  plantation 
and  a  little  forage,  which  we  appro 
priated  from  the  owner.  I  inquired 
where  the  wagon  party  had  gone; 
he  did  not  know,  but  thought  they 
had  crossed  Gum  swamp,  and  that 
the  rains  had  so  raised  the  water 
that  it  would  be  impossible  for  us 
to  get  through. 

"Get  your  horse,"  I  said,  "and 
guide  us  through  to  the  other  side 
of  the  swamps  and  we  will  go, 


22  The  Capture  of 

otherwise  we  shall  stay  and  eat  you 
out  of  house  and  home."  He  then 
quickly  got  his  horse  and  led  the 
way  through  the  swamp,  where  the 
water  for  miles  was  up  to  the  sad 
dles. 

Dismissing  this  guide,  we  pushed 
on  through  those  dense  woods,  over 
a  fairly  plain  track  until  darkness 
compelled  us  to  halt  for  the  night. 
During  the  night  there  came  up  a 
terrible  storm  of  wind,  rain,  thunder 
and  lightning,  and,  as  if  to  add  to 
our  already  discomfort,  several  great 
trees  came  down  with  a  crash  in  our 
near  vicinity,  but  our  weariness  was 
such  that  we  were  disturbed  but  for 
a  moment. 

As  soon  as  it  was  light  enough 
to  see,  on  the  morning  of  May  Qth, 
we  pushed  on  in  a  southeast  direc 
tion,  until  we  struck  the  Ochemulgee 
river,  the  same  we  had  crossed  be- 


Jefferson  Davis.  23 

fore  at  Macon.  Continuing  down 
the  river  some  distance,  we  came  to 
a  ferry.  By  our  haste  to  get  over, 
the  boat  was  damaged  so  that  only 
a  half  load  of  horses  could  be  taken 
over  at  a  time.  This  delayed  us  a 
couple  of  hours,  then  we  pushed  on 
a  few  miles  to  a  little  town  called 
Abbeville. 

By  inquiring,  we  learned  that  a 
party  with  wagons  had  passed 
through  the  town  during  the  night  and 
that  they  had  gone  towards  Irwins- 
ville.  We  halted  and  fed  our  horses 
and  then  started  on  the  road  to 
wards  Irwinsville.  Just  as  we  were 
moving  out  we  saw  four  soldiers  in 
United  States  uniform,  coming 
down  the  road  from  the  north.  They 
informed  me  they  belonged  to  the 
Fourth  Michigan  Cavalry,  Lieuten 
ant-Colonel  Pritchard  commanding, 
and  that  the  regiment  was  near  at 


24  The  Capture  of 

hand.  Sending  on  our  detachment 
under  Lieutenant  Clinton,  I  rode, 
accompanied  by  my  orderly,  to 
meet  Colonel  Pritchard.  After  in 
troducing  myself,  I  inquired  if  he 
had  any  news  of  Jeff.  Davis.  He 
said  he  had  not,  but  that  he  had 
been  ordered  with  his  regiment  to 
Abbeville  to  patrol  the  river  and  to 
prevent  Davis  from  crossing.  He 
also  informed  me  that  his  orders 
were  to  encamp  at  Abbeville  and 
guard  the  crossings  of  the  Ochemul- 
gee,  and  he  gave  me  no  intimation 
that  he  intended  any  other  course. 
He  had  left  Macon  since  I  had,  but 
up  to  this  time  had  heard  nothing 
of  Davis.  As  his  errand  was  the 
same  as  mine,  I  thought  it  my  duty 
to  give  him  all  the  information  in 
my  possession,  in  regard  to  the 
movement  of  Davis.  I  told  him 
that  we  had  been  on  the  track  of 


Jefferson  Davis.  25 

Davis  for  three  days,  and  that  Davis 
with  one  party  had  crossed  over  the 
Ochemulgee  during  the  night  and 
gone  towards  Irwinsville,  but  there 
was  a  larger  party  of  confederates 
who  were  somewhere  the  other  side 
of  the  river.  He  inquired  if  I 
needed  any  more  men,  I  said  not 
unless  he  could  spare  some  rations 
as  our  party  had  next  to  nothing  to 
eat.  He  said  they  had  marched 
suddenly  and  had  no  rations. 

Bidding  him  good-bye,  my  or 
derly,  James  Aplin,  and  I,  left  him 
and  pushed  on  and  overtook  our 
party.  We  shortly  came  to  the 
place  where  the  Davis  party  had 
lunched.  They  had  left  so  recently 
that  their  fires  were  still  burning. 
We  continued  to  march  on  until 
dark,  when  coming  to  a  swale  where 
there  was  water  and  a  little  grass, 
we  halted  to  rest  and  graze  our 


26  The  Capture  of 

horses.  All  we  had  for  rations  was 
a  little  damaged  corn-meal.  We 
lay  down  to  rest  for  a  spell,  but  be 
fore  the  break  of  day,  we  were  in 
in  our  saddles  again. 

At  this  time  I  felt  confident  that 
we  were  in  the  near  proximity  to 
the  Davis  party,  and  had  only 
halted  so  as  not  to  come  upon  them 
in  the  night.  I  expected  that  Davis 
would  camp  on  the  other  side  of  a 
river  ahead,  and  I  thought  if  we  at 
tempted  to  cross  the  ford  in  the 
dark,  Davis  would  take  the  alarm 
and  escape. 

May  loth,  putting  forward  an  ad 
vance  guard  of  a  sergeant,  George 
Hussey,  and  six  men,  with  instruc 
tions  to  keep  a  little  ahead  and  to 
keep  a  sharp  lookout  for  the  enemy, 
we  moved  on.  We  had  made  but 
a  mile  or  so  when  our  advance  guard 
were  fired  upon  suddenly,  by  what 


Jefferson  Davis.  27 

I  judged  to  be  twenty  or  thirty  mus 
kets.  Galloping  forward  at  the  head 
of  ten  men,  I  met  the  sergeant  with 
his  party  coming  back  with  several 
of  his  men  wounded.  He  said  they 
had  run  into  the  enemy's  pickets 
and  had  been  fired  upon.  I  directed 
the  sergeant  to  follow  and  then 
dashed  on,  when  we  were  met  with 
another  volley,  so  close  that  their 
fire  came  right  in  our  faces,  and  the 
bullets  rattled  like  hail  on  the  trees. 
I  could  just  see  the  forms  of  the 
men  on  account  of  the  darkness. 
Seeing  that  they  were  in  consider 
able  force  and  determined  to  stand 
their  ground,  I  got  my  men  into  line 
and  dismounting  a  part,  we  ad 
vanced  on  the  enemy.  After  giving 
us  a  third  volley  we  opened  fire  on 
them  and  they  then  retreated  into 
a  swamp. 


±8  The  Capture  of 

It  was  now  getting  a  little  light. 
At  this  time  a  man  called  my  atten 
tion  to  about  one  hundred  mounted 
men  who  were  coming  down  on  our 
left  flank.  He  said,  "Colonel,  there 
is  more  than  a  hundred  of  them 
coming."  I  said,  "Never  mind 
boys,  we  will  whip  them  yet."  Di 
recting  Sergeant  Horr,  with  ten 
men  of  Company  A,  to  pursue  the 
party  who  had  fired  on  us  first  and 
retreated,  and  not  to  let  them  rally, 
I  next  turned  my  attention  to  the 
new  comers  who  were  between  us 
and  the  light.  The  new  comers 
opened  fire  on  us  as  they  approached. 

Forming  a  line  facing  the  ap 
proaching  enemy,  we  opened  upon 
them  with  our  repeating  rifles  (Spen 
ser  carbines).  They  were  soon 
thrown  into  confusion.  I  had  left 
part  of  my  men  under  Lieutenant 
Clinton,  mounted;  seeing  that  the 


Jefferson  Davis.  29 

enemy  were  in  confusion,  I  now  or 
dered  Clinton  to  prepare  for  a  sabre 
charge.  Two  of  the  men  hearing 
me  and  understanding  I  had  ordered 
the  charge,  drew  their  sabres  and 
putting  spurs  to  their  horses,  dashed 
at  the  enemy. 

I  called  them  back  not  being  quite 
ready,  as  I  wanted  to  give  our  foot 
men  time  to  replenish  their  maga 
zines.  Just  as  I  was  about  to  give 
the  final  order  to  charge,  Sergeant 
Horr  came  running  up  and  said  we 
were  fighting  Union  men.  That  he 
had  captured  one  of  them  and  thus 
ascertained  the  fact.  At  hearing 
this  I  rode  in  front  of  our  line  and 
shouted  to  "stop  firing,"  which  soon 
ceased  on  both  sides.  Riding  for 
ward,  the  first  man  I  met  was  Col 
onel  Pritchard.  So  surprised  was  I 
that  for  sometime  I  could  not  realize 
that  it  was  Colonel  Pritchard,  but  as 


30  The  Capture  of 

soon  as  I  knew  him,  I  asked  him 
how  it  was  that  he  was  there  fight 
ing  us. 

He  explained  that  after  parting 
with  me  the  day  before,  at  Abbe 
ville,  twenty-five  miles  distance,  and 
ascertaining  from  me  that  Davis  had 
already  got  across  the  river,  and 
finding  that  there  was  another  road 
to  Irwinsville,  he  had  selected  one 
hundred  and  fifty  of  his  best  men, 
well  mounted,  and  by  marching  all 
night  had  arrived  at  Irwinsville  be 
fore  daylight.  Hearing  that  a  party 
with  wagons  was  camped  out  a  little 
ways  from  the  town,  he  had  marched 
out  toward  it,  guided  by  a  negro. 
He  had  sent  twenty-five  men  around 
to  the  back  of  the  camp,  and  it  was 
these  men  who  had  mistaken  us  for 
enemies,  had  fired  upon  us  so  reck 
lessly  with  such  unfortunate  results. 

He  said  some  of  his  men  had  just 


Jefferson  Davis.  31 

taken  possession  of  the  camp,  which 
was  only  about  fifty  yards  away.  I 
inquired  if  Jeff.  Davis  had  been  cap 
tured.  He  answered  that  he  did 
not  know  who  had  been  captured, 
as  he  had  not  been  to  the  camp  him 
self.  In  this  unfortunate  affair,  two 
of  the  Michigan  men  were  killed, 
one  officerand  several  men  wounded. 
Of  the  Wisconsin  men  three  were 
wounded,  but  none  were  killed. 

Colonel  Pritchard  and  I  rode  into 
the  Davis  camp  together,  which  was 
just  across  a  little  swale,  only  a  few 
rods  from  where  our  skirmish  took 
place.  The  first  person  we  saw  in 
the  camp  was  Mr.  John  H.  Reagen, 
the  Postmaster-General  of  the  late 
Confederacy,  lately  the  United 
States  Senator  from  Texas.  He 
said,  "Well,  you  have  taken  the  old 
gentleman  at  last."  I  said,  "Who 
do  you  mean?"  He  said,  "I  mean 


32  The  Capture  of 

President  Davis."  ' 'Please  point 
him  out,"  said  I.  "There  he  stands" 
said  he,  pointing  to  a  tall,  elderly, 
and  rather  dignified  looking  gentle 
man,  standing  a  short  distance 
away.  We  rode  up,  dismounted 
and  saluted,  and  I  asked  if  this  was 
Mr.  Davis.  "Yes,"  he  replied,  "/ 
am  President  Dams."  At  this  the 
soldiers  set  up  a  shout  that  Jeff. 
Davis  was  captured. 

Up  to  this  time  none  of  the  men 
who  actually  arrested  him,  knew 
that  he  was  Jeff.  Davis.  One  sol 
dier  said,  "What!  that  man  Jeff. 
Davis?  That's  the  old  fellow  that 
when  I  stopped  him  had  his  wife's 
shawl  on."  About  this  time  we, 
that  is  Mr.  Davis,  Colonel  Pritchard 
and  myself  were  the  center  of  a  cir 
cle,  composed  of  soldiers  and  others 
of  the  Davis  party.  In  the  back 
ground  some  soldiers  set  up  a  song: 


LIEUT.-COL.   HENRY  HARNDEN. 

First  Wisconsin  Cavalry.      Brevet  Brigadier  General  of 

Volunteers,  1865. 


Jefferson  Davis.  33 

"We  will  hang  Jeff.  Davis  on  a  sour 
apple  tree,"  to  the  tune  of  John 
Brown,  which  did  not  add  to  his 
comfort  in  the  least. 

In  the  camp  were  two  tents  and 
eight  ambulances,  each  drawn  by 
four  mules.  There  were  also  sev 
eral  fine  saddle  horses.  Besides 
Jeff.  Davis,  there  were  Mr.  Reagan, 
Colonel  Harrison,  Mrs.  Davis,  her 
sister,  Miss  Howel,  and  a  number 
of  rebel  officers  from  Johnston's 
army  and  a  lot  of  teamsters,  serv 
ants  and  others,  but  no  fighting 
men. 

It  appears  that  when  the  fighting 
began,  Mr.  Davis  was  sleeping  in 
his  tent.  Alarmed  at  the  noise,  he 
hastily  arose  and  threw  a  shawl,  or 
dressing-gown  around  him,  and 
started  out,  but  meeting  a  soldier, 
was  stopped  and  ordered  back  into 
his  tent.  It  was  some  time  before 


34  The  Capture  of 

he  could  understand  what  had  hap 
pened.  He  heard  the  noise  of  the 
sharp  skirmish,  and  saw  the  dead 
and  wounded  brought  in,  and  know 
ing  that  he  had  no  fighting  men 
with  him,  he  could  not  understand 
what  it  meant,  until  explained  to 
him  afterwards. 

I  entered  into  conversation  with 
him,  but  with  poorsatisfaction  to  him 
or  to  me.  I  would  not  call  him  Mr. 
President,  but  always  addressed  him 
as  Mr.  Davis,  which  seemed  greatly 
to  annoy  him,  and  he  retaliated  by 
speaking  of  "yourgovernment,"  with 
the  greatest  contempt.  I  said  to 
him  that  I  came  very  near  making 
his  acquaintance  back  at  Dublin, 
three  days  before,  and  if  he  had  ful 
filled  his  engagement  to  dine  with 
Judge  Rose,  that  I  should  have  done 
so.  Upon  this,  he  turned  on  me  with 
great  hauteur  and  said:  "Well,  sir, 


Jefferson  Davis.  35 

I  can  assure  you  that  if  you  had 
made  my  acquaintance  then,  this 
thing  would  not  have  happened  as 
it  has.  I  had  those  with  me  then, 
who  would  not  have  permitted  this 
indignity  to  have  been  put  upon  me, 
and  it  was  well  for  you,  sir,  that 
you  were  not  in  time  to  see  me 
then."  I  replied,  that  it  would  have 
afforded  me  pleasure  to  have  met 
his  friends  and  tried  the  question 
with  them.  Every  few  moments 
he  would  turn  away  from  me,  but 
he  would  soon  come  back  to  the  tilt 
again.  He  wanted  to  know  if  my 
government  authorized  me  to  har- 
rass  women  and  children  through 
the  country  in  the  manner  I  was  do 
ing.  I  replied  no,  that  I  was  not  after 
women  and  children,  but  I  was  sent 
after  him.  Then  his  wrath  arose 
again,  and  he  poured  out  a  torrent  of 
abuse  against  my  government,  which 


36  The  Capture  of 

was  treating  him   with   such  indig 
nity. 

While  conversing  with  him  I  saw 
a  cask  of  brandy  pitched  out  of  an 
ambulance  and  the  head  was  soon 
knocked  in  and  the  soldiers  were 
running  from  all  parts,  with  cups 
and  canteens,  so  I  called  Colonel 
Pritchard's  attention  to  it,  and  said 
it  ought  to  be  stopped,  as  there 
might  soon  be  trouble  over  it.  The 
Colonel  went  over  and  tried  to  stop 
it,  but  with  poor  success,  I  suspect, 
as  the  condition  of  the  soldiers  soon 
showed.  Mr.  Davis  seeing  the  way 
things  were  being  thrown  out  of  the 
wagons,  turned  to  me  and  inquired 
which  of  us  was  the  ranking  officer. 
As  rank  depended  upon  the  date  of 
our  commissions,  and  we  were  both 
Lieutenant-Colonels,  I  replied  that 
I  did  not  know.  He  meant  to  in 
quire  which  of  us  was  in  command, 


Jefferson  Davis.  37 

but  as  he  had  been  insolent,  I  did 
not  propose  to  explain  to  him  that 
we  were  two  separate  commands 
just  come  together.  He  then  turned 
to  some  confederate  officers  and 
said  that  things  had  come  to  a 
pretty  state  of  affairs  when  United 
States  soldiers  did  not  know  who 
their  commanding  officer  was,  and 
that  it  was  no  wonder  that  the  pri 
vates  were  plunderers  and  robbers. 
After  a  little  more  talk,  his  wrath 
which  had  for  some  time  been  rising, 
got  completely  the  better  of  him,  and 
then  he  turned  his  back  upon  me  for 
the  last  time. 

In  speaking  to  his  wife  he  blamed 
her  for  his  being  captured,  for  he 
said,  if  he  had  acted  on  his  own 
judgment  he  would  have  been  with 
the  others  of  his  party,  and  this 
thing  would  not  have  happened 
as  it  had.  It  appeared  that  she  had 


38  The  Capture  of 

persuaded  him  to  accompany  her  a 
little  further  than  he  had  at  first  in 
tended.  Mrs.  Davis  took  him  by 
the  arm  and  tried  to  pacify  him. 
She  told  him  "never  to  mind  him, 
that  he  was  not  worth  minding." 
She  also  said,  as  she  was  leading 
him  away,  that  she  hoped  we  would 
not  irritate  the  President  for  some 
one  might  get  hurt. 

After  making  all  allowance  for  the 
humiliating  position  in  which  Mr. 
Davis  found  himself  placed  at  that 
time,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  he 
was  a  greatly  overrated  man.  His 
manner  and  all  that  he  said,  his 
blaming  his  wife  and  other  circum 
stances,  all  went  to  show  that  he 
had  no  real  nobility  about  him. 

It  appears  that  up  to  their  arrival 
at  Dublin,  Mr.  Davis  was  accom 
panied  by  his  Cabinet  officers  and 
quite  an  escort  of  Texans,  but  they 


Jefferson  Davis.  39 

were  separated,  the  main  part  going 
down  the  east  side  of  the  Oconee 
river,  while  the  party  of  Mr.  Davis 
crossed  to  the  west  side  and  were 
headed  for  Mississippi,  the  home  of 
Mrs.  Davis. 

Mr.  Davis  only  intended  to  keep 
her  company  for  a  day  or  two  longer, 
then  leave  her  and  make  his  way  to 
General  Kirby  Smith  in  the  lower 
Mississippi,  and  continue  the  war 
some  longer. 

In  regard  to  what  would  have  hap 
pened  in  case  we  had  met  Mr.  Davis 
at  Dublin,  it  is  only  problematical. 
The  Wisconsin  troops  were  veterans 
selected  from  one  of  the  best  regi 
ments  in  the  service,  all  well  armed, 
mounted,  and  disciplined,  while  the 
confederates  although  in  greatly  su 
perior  numbers,  were  disorganized 
and  discouraged.  That  they  were 
brave  men  and  desperate  fighters, 


40  The  Capture  of 

no  one  will  dispute,  but  that  the 
meeting  did  not  take  place,  in  my 
opinion,  was  well  for  Jeff.  Davis  and 
his  escort,  for  in  the  language  of 
Mrs.  Davis,  "some  one  would  have 
got  hurt." 

As  to  the  hoop-skirt  story,  I  know 
but  very  little  of  it,  but  think  it 
grew  out  of  the  remark  by  a  soldier, 
that,  when  he  stopped  him,  he  had 
his  wife's  shawl  on.  As  I  saw  noth 
ing  and  heard  nothing  of  any  female 
apparel  at  the  time  I  never  took 
any  stock  in  that  story.  After  rest 
ing  for  a  short  time  and  caring  for 
the  wounded  and  burying  the  dead, 
we  all  began  our  return  march  to 
Macon,  where  we  arrived  the  day 
after,  May  12,  1865. 

I  first  made  my  verbal  report  to 
General  Wilson  and  received  from 
him  his  hearty  approval  of  all  we  had 
done.  We  then  heard  that  a  reward 


Jefferson  Davis.  4* 

of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  had 
been  offered  for  the  capture  of  Da 
vis,  a  fact  of  which,  up  to  this 
time,  we  Wisconsin  men  had  been 
ignorant. 

The  reward  offered  for  the  cap 
ture  of  Davis  was  first  awarded  to 
the  Michigan  regiment,  although 
the  greater  part  of  the  regiment  was 
twenty-five  miles  away  at  the  time, 
but  the  great  injustice  of  this  was 
so  apparent  that  Congress  appointed 
a  committee  to  investigate,  and 
this  committee  reversed  the  award 
by  giving  to  the  men  who  were  ac 
tually  present,  of  both  regiments, 
shares  alike  according  to  rank  and 
pay.  General  Wilson  received  a 
share  equal  to  that  of  Colonel  Prit- 
chard  and  myself. 

As  the  war  was  then  over  and 
Colonel  Pritchard  and  myself  were 
soon  mustered  out  of  service,  no 


42  The  Capture  of 

military  court  of  inquiry  was  ever 
held  to  determine  the  responsibility 
of  the  collision  which  resulted  so 
disastrously  to  several  Union  sol 
diers,  but  General  Wilson  says  in 
his  official  report,  that  Colonel 
Harnden  was  in  no  way  responsible 
as  he  had  no  means  of  knowing1 

o 

that  the  parties  in  his  front  were 
other  than  enemies. 

Over  thirty  odd  years  have  passed 
and  gone  since  the  event  narrated 
above  took  place,  and  many  of  the 
participants  have  gone  to  their  long 
homes,  but  the  memory  of  the  com 
rades  are  still  fresh  to  me  and  grow 
ing  dearer  as  time  rolls  on. 

I  will  add  one  word  more  of  tribute 
to  their  praise.  For  the  whole  seven 
days  of  the  expedition,  not  one  word 
of  complaint  or  a  murmur  was  heard, 
although  marching  under  the  burn 
ing  sun  or  in  the  blinding  rain,  by 


Jefferson  Davis.  43 

day  or  night,  with  scarcely  any  food 
to  eat,  without  rest,  until  it  seemed 
as  if  human  nature  could  stand  no 
more;  and  yet,  weary  as  they  were, 
they  were  ready  to  face  their  ene 
mies  in  battle,  well  knowing  them 
to  be  more  than  two  to  one  of 
themselves.  Their  only  thought 
was,  it  is  duty. 

In  Major-General  Wilson's  official 
report,  made  to  the  war  department 
in  regard  to  the  capture  of  Jeff. 
Davis,  he  says:  "Upon  receiving 
notice  that  Mr.  Davis  was  making 
his  way  into  Georgia,  I  ordered  the 
General  commanding  the  First  Di 
vision,  to  detail  one  hundred  and 
fifty  men> from  his  best  regiment, 
commanded  by  his  best  officer,  to 
go  in  pursuit  of  Davis,  and  in  obe 
dience  to  the  order,  General  Crox- 
ton  sent  Colonel  Harnden  with  a  de 
tachment  from  the  First  Wisconsin 
cavalry." 


44  The  Capture  of 

It  will  be  observed  that  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  men  of  the  Wisconsin 
regiment  were  sent  out  to  do  the 
same  work  and  to  meet  the  same 
risks  for  which  whole  regiments  were 
in  other  cases  thought  to  be  neces 
sary.  How  well  they  acquitted 
themselves  of  the  great  responsibil 
ity  is  shown  by  the  results  they  ac 
complished. 

QUESTIONS    ANSWERED. 

A  number  of  questions  have  been 
asked  with  respect  to  the  capture, 
which  I  will  try  to  answer  as  best 
I  can. 

What  was  done  with  Jefferson 
Davis? 

After  he  was  brought  to  Macon, 
he  was  sent  under  guard  by  the  way 
of  Savannah  to  Old  Point,  Vir 
ginia,  where  he  was  kept  a  prisoner 


Jefferson  Davis.  45 

for  several  months,  Governor  Up- 
ham,  of  Wisconsin,  then  a  Lieuten 
ant  in  the  United  States  army,  being 
one  of  the  officers  to  guard  him. 
Davis  was  finally  released  on  bail, 
Horace  Greely  and  others  going  on 
his  bond. 

Who  was  Captain  Yeoman? 

He  was  a  Captain  in  an  Ohio 
regiment,  who  somewhere  in  the 
Carolinas  fell  in  with  the  Davis 
party,  and  passing  himself  off  for  a 
Confederate,  traveled  with  them  for 
several  days,  and  it  was  he  who 
contrived  to  get  the  dispatch  to 
General  Wilson  at  Macon,  which 
caused  him  to  send  a  number  of 
regiments  in  different  directions  to 
try  and  head  Davis  off,  and  which 
did  finally  result  in  his  capture. 

How  was  Davis  dressed? 
He  wore  a  common  slouched  hat, 
nice  fine  boots,  no  spurs,  coat  and 


46  The  Capture  of 

pants  of  light  blue  English  broad 
cloth;  taking  all  circumstances  into 
consideration,  he  was  neatly  dressed. 

Who  captured  him? 

It  was  said  and  not  disputed  at 
the  time,  that  the  soldier's  name 
who  said  "halt''  to  Davis,  was  Mun- 
ger,  a  corporal  in  the  Fourth  Mich 
igan  Cavalry,  but  he  did  not  then 
know  that  it  was  Davis. 

How  did  the  hoop-skirt  story  get 
started? 

When  we  got  back  to  Macon, 
General  Wilson  sent  for  me  and 
made  me  tell  him  all  about  my  pur 
suit  and  the  incidents  of  the  capture 
of  Davis.  The  General  insisted 
upon  every  particular  as  how  he  ap 
peared,  what  he  said,  how  he  was 
dressed,  etc. 

After  narrating  all,  I  told  him 
that  I  heard  the  soldier  who  halted 


Jefferson  Davis.  47 

him  say,  that  when  Davis  came  out 
of  his  tent,  he  had  his  wife's  shawl 
on.  This  remark  of  mine  was  tel 
egraphed  north,  and  when  it  came 
back,  it  had  apparently  grown  into 
its  well  known  proportions. 

Who  was  to  blame  for  the  col 
lision? 

Perhaps  that  is  not  for  me  to  say, 
but  after  the  lapse  of  these  many 
years,  and  looking  back  across  the 
intervening  time,  and  realizing  that 
men  may  be  mistaken  in  their  judg 
ments,  I  feel  that  I  owe  it  to  his 
torical  truth  and  to  the  memory  of 
the  brave  men  of  the  First  Wiscon 
sin  Cavalry,  who  were  with  me, 
and  who  took  part  in  this  closing 
scene  in  the  war,  to  once  more  care 
fully  review  the  circumstances  of 
that  unfortunate  collision,  and  to 
submit  to  those  who  care  to  read 


48  The  Capture  of 

this  narrative,  the  evidence  upon 
the  subject  which  I  have  been  able 
to  gather  from  official  reports  and 
from  the  statements  of  those  who 
were  present,  and  personally  wit 
nessed  the  facts. 

The  official  reports  of  the  Union 
and  Confederate  armies  have  now 
been  put  in  print,  and  are  access- 
able  to  every  one,  and  all  corres 
pondence  and  reports  relating  to 
this  matter  are  public  property  and 
easy  to  be  examined  by  any  one 
who  cares  to  turn  over  the  pages  of 
those  voluminous  records.  Upon 
carefully  re-reading  these  reports 
and,  from  statements  furnished  me 
by  men  who  were  with  me,  and 
which  I  subjoin  to  this  narrative, 
there  are  some  things  which  have 
become  more  clear  to  me  now,  than 
even  at  the  time.  One  fact  which  has 
grown  upon  me  is,  that  it  is  more 


Jefferson  Davis.  49 

than  probable  that  the  Commander 
of  the  Fourth  Michigan  Cavalry 
knew  when  he  left  Macon,  of  the 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars  re 
ward  which  had  been  offered  for  the 
capture  of  Jeff.  Davis.  In  the  light 
of  the  evidence  it  seems  to  me  im 
possible  that  he  should  not  have 
known  it,  and  the  action  which  he 
took  with  respect  to  the  capture 
has  driven  me  to  the  unwilling  be 
lief  that  for  some  reason  he  was  either 
not  unwilling  that  such  a  collision 
should  take  place,  or  that  he  was 
grossly  negligent  with  respect  to 
preventing  it. 

As  early  as  the  3Oth  of  April, 
General  Grant  had  begun  to  take 
measures  to  secure,  if  possible,  the 
capture  of  the  president  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy,  and  had  given 
strict  orders  to  have  the  Mississippi 
river  patrolled  and  guarded.  Gen- 


50  The  Capture  of 

eral  Thomas  had  also  taken  meas 
ures  to  accomplish  the  same  end. 
Reports  had  begun  to  come  in  from 
different  sources  that  Davis  had 
been  trying  to  escape  with  several 
millions  of  specie.  On  the  2d  day 
of  May,  1865,  President  Johnson 
had  issued  a  proclamation,  offering 
a  reward  of  "one  hundred  thousand 
dollars  for  the  arrest  of  Jefferson 
Davis,  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
for  the  arrest  of  Clement  C.  Clay, 
and  others." 

On  May  6th,  General  Wilson  at 
Macon,  Georgia,  issued  hand-bills, 
a  fac- simile  of  which  is  produced  in 
the  February  Century,  1890,  in  the 
article  upon  "The  Pursuit  and  Cap 
ture  of  Jefferson  Davis,"  offering  a 
reward  of  one  hundred  thousand  dol 
lars  in  gold,  and  these  were  posted 
in  Macon  as  early  as  the  7th,  and 
widely  distributed  throughout  all 


Jefferson  Davis.  51 

that  region.  Colonel  Pritchard  did 
not  leave  Macon  until  eight  o'clock 
on  the  evening  of  the  /th,  and  after 
these  hand-bills  must  have  been 
thoroughly  distributed  throughout 
that  whole  vicinity. 

In  this  I  am  confirmed  by  the 
statement  of  Clark  W.  Seely,  of 
Company  D,  First  Wisconsin  Cav 
alry,  which  is  hereto  annexed. 
Seely  was  wounded  in  the  collision, 
and  was  sent  back  in  the  ambulance 
of  the  Fourth  Michigan,  and  upon 
the  road  to  Abbeville  upon  the  very 
day  of  the  collision,  he  heard  some 
of  Colonel  Pritchard's  command 
asking  who  would  get  the  reward, 
and  upon  Seely's  question  they  in 
formed  him  that  there  was  a  reward 
of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  for 
Davis's  capture. 

The  circumstances  of  the  collision 
itself  seem  scarcely  able  to  be  ex- 


52  The  Capture  of 

plained  upon  any  other  theory.  I 
venture  to  call  attention  to  two  state 
ments  made  by  General  Wilson  re 
specting  this  matter.  In  General 
Wilson's  report  to  General  John 
Rawlins,  dated  January  17,  1867, 
he  used  this  significant  language  re 
ferring  to  my  meeting  with  Colonel 
Pritchard:  "Colonel  Harnden having 
informed  him  that  he  had  force 
enough  to  cope  with  Davis,  Colonel 
Pritchard  determined  to  march  an 
other  road  leading  to  Irwinville  by 
a  more  circuitous  route.  Why  he 
did  not  send  a  courier  on  the  trail 
pursued  by  Colonel  Harnden  to  no- 
tify  the  latter  of  his  intentions,  has 
not  been  explained.  This  would 
probably  have  prevented  the  colli 
sion  which  afterward  occurred  be 
tween  his  regiment  and  that  of  Colo 
nel  Harnden,  and  would  not  have 


Jefferson  Davis.  53 

rendered   the   capture  of  Davis  less 
certain."* 

In  his  article  in  the  Century  Mag 
azine  for  February,  1890,  General 
Wilson  says:  "Unfortunately,  Colo 
nel  Pritchard  had  failed  to  apprise 
Colonel  Harnden  of  his  plan  of  op 
erations,  and  the  latter,  entirely 
unconscious  of  all  that  had  occurred 
since  he  left  Abbeville  at  three 
o'clock  the  previous  afternoon,  had 
called  his  men  without  the  blare  of 
bugles  from  their  slumber,  and  after 
a  hasty  breakfast  of  coffee  and  hard 
bread,  had  taken  the  road  to  gather 
in  the  party  which  he  had  been  pur 
suing  with  such  untiring  energy  for 
two  days  and  nights."  ...  A 
careful  examination  of  all  the  re 
ports  made  by  Colonel  Pritchard  to 
the  various  officers  fail  to  show  that 


*Part  I,  Vol.  XLIX,  page  377,  Official  Rec 
ords  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  Armies. 


54  The  Capture  of 

any  special  precaution  was  taken  by 
him  to  prevent  the  collision,  and 
the  differences  in  his  reports  seem 
very  marked,  as  the  necessity  for 
making  excuses  for  his  negligence 
became  more  apparent. 

In  his  report  of  May  25th  to  the 
Secretary  of  War,  he  says:  "Sharp 
firing  was  commenced  between  the 
dismounted  forces  under  Lieutenant 
Purinton,  and  what  was  supposed 
at  the  time  to  be  the  rebel  forces 
guarding  a  train.  The  firing  was 
about  one  hundred  rods  in  rear  of 
the  camp,  and  across  a  narrow 
swamp.  I  immediately  ordered  all 
my  forces  forward  to  the  scene  of 
the  firing,  leaving  only  a  force  suf 
ficient  to  guard  the  camp  and  pris 
oners.  On  arriving  on  the  ground, 
I  found  my  men  engaging  a  force  of 
dismounted  men  who  were  concealed 
behind  trees,  etc.  I  at  once  formed 


Jefferson  Davis.  55 

my  men  in  line,  dismounted  them, 
threw  out  a  line  of  skirmishers,  who 
were  advancing  handsomely,  when 
I  became  apprehensive  that  we  were 
contending  with  some  of  our  own 
men,  from  the  determination  dis 
played  on  their  part  and  the  pecu 
liar  report  of  their  firearms.  I 
ordered  my  men  at  once  to  cease 
firing,  and  rode  out  towards  our 
opponents  and  hallooed  to  them, 
asking-  them  who  they  were,  and  re 
ceived  the  reply,  "First  Wisconsin." 
In  his  report  to  General  Minty, 
July  2,  1865. 

Speaking  of  the  Davis  camp,  he 
says:  "I  at  first  thought  that  it 
must  be  the  First  Wisconsin,  but 
upon  further  inquiry,  learned  that 
the  party  had  tents  and  wagons, 
which  I  knew  was  not  the  case  with 
the  First  Wisconsin,  but  thinking 
that  there  might  still  be  some  mis- 


56  The  Capture  of 

take  regarding  the  character  of  the 
party,  I  gave  my  officers  strict  or 
ders  with  reference  to  learning  the 
character  of  all  parties  before  firing 
upon  them.""* 

Lieutenant  Purinton  in  his  affi 
davit  on  page  529  of  the  same  rec 
ords,  speaking  of  Colonel  Pritchard, 
says:  *  'Giving  me  special  orders, 
and  cautioning  me  to  ascertain  the 
character  of  all  parties  and  men 
whom  I  might  meet  before  firing 
upon  them,  as  the  First  Wisconsin 
Cavalry  might  be  on  the  road.  In 
obedience  to  said  orders,  I  success 
fully  executed  my  mission  in  gain 
ing  the  rear  of  the  camp  without  dis 
covery." 

And  he  then  states  how  he  carried 

out  that  order,  showing  that  he  used 

no  efforts  to  make  known    who   he 

was,  although  he  was  expecting  the 

*Part  I,  vol.  49,  p.  532,  Official  Records. 


Jefferson  Davis.  57 

First  Wisconsin  to  be  at  that  very 
point  at  that  moment.      He  says: 

"I  had  held  my  position  for  an 
hour  or  more  when  I  heard  mounted 
men  approaching  us  from  the  rear, 
as  we  were  then  facing  towards  the 
camp.  When  they  had  approached 
to  within  fifteen  or  twenty  rods  of 
my  position  I  discovered  that 
there  were  six  or  eight  of  them, 
when  I  stepped  out  in  person  and 
halted  them,  and  received  the  reply 
at  first  "Friends,"  when  I  ordered 
one  to  ride  forward,  which  they  re 
fused  to  do.  I  then  asked  them 
what  command  they  belonged  to, 
then  they  replied,  'By  G — d,  you 
are  the  men  we  are  looking  for.'  I 
then  told  them  that  if  we  were  the 
men  they  were  looking  for  to  come 
forward,  when  they  immediately 
wheeled  and  fled,  when  I,  supposing 
they  must  be  the  enemy,  ordered 


58  The  Capture  of 

my  men  to  fire  on  them."  Though 
one  feels  like  commending  the  kind 
ness  of  Lieutenant  Purinton  in  thus 
endeavoring  to  relieve  his  superior 
officer  from  blame,  by  stating  that 
he  carried  out  the  orders  of  Colonel 
Pritchard,  in  this  blundering,  negli 
gent,  and  almost  disobedient  man 
ner,  still  it  seems  from  the  above 
conflicting  statements  that  Lieuten 
ant  Purinton,  although  willing  to 
assume  the  blame,  is  not  in  reality 
the  one  responsible  for  it.  Both  he 
and  Colonel  Pritchard  expected  the 
First  Wisconsin  at  that  very  point. 
Both  of  them  say  that  they  were 
looking  for  them  to  come.  Both 
say  that  they  were  endeavoring  and 
taking  unusual  pains,  but  neither 
claim  that  they  told  or  in  any  way 
disclosed  their  identity  before  firing, 
and  acknowledge  that  they  were  at 
a  place  where  they  say  they  ex- 


Jefferson  Davis.  59 

pected  the  First  Wisconsin  Cavalry 
to  be  at  that  very  moment. 

Lieutenant  Purinton  expected 
friends  from  that  direction,  not 
enemies.  My  command  expected 
enemies,  and  not  friends  at  the 
point  where  Sergeant  Hussy  was 
met  and  halted.  He  did  his  duty 
as  a  brave  man  and  a  skillful  soldier. 
He  retreated  and  did  not  give  him 
self  up  in  an  unsoldierly  way  at  the 
command  to  advance  from  the  lips 
of  a  supposed  enemy. 

The  statement  of  Private  Seely, 
hereto  annexed  is  singularly  perti 
nent.  He  says:  "As  soon  as  we 
halted,  the  men  that  were  left  at  the 
ferry,  (a  portion  of  Pritchard's  com 
mand)  crowded  around  and  wanted 
to  know  how  the  men  came  to  fire 
into  the  Wisconsin  men.  Some 
said:  'we  were  ordered  to  fire,  so 
we  fired,  but  we  were  sure  it  was 


60  The  Capture  of 

Union  Cavalry  by  the  rattle  of  their 
sabers.'  I  heard  several  say  the 
same  thing." 

The  above  statement  corresponds 
with  Colonel  Pritchard's  remarks  in 
his  report,  "the  peculiar  report  of 
their  fire  arms,"  and  explains  the 
impression  evidently  made  upon 
General  La  Grange,  as  shown  by  his 
endorsement  upon  my  report,  in 
which  he  characterized  the  affair  as 
"An  act  having-  every  appearance 
of  unsoldierly  selfishness  in  appro 
priating  by  deception  the  fruits  of 
another's  labor  and  thus  attaining 
an  unearned  success,  resulting  in 
unnecessary  bloodshed  and  a  sacri 
fice  of  lives  for  which  no  atonement 
can  be  made.  What  may  have  been 
intended  merely  as  an  act  of  bad 
faith  toward  a  fellow  soldier,  re 
sulted  in  a  crime." 

It  is  painful  to  think  that  the  im- 


Jefferson  Davis.  61 

pression  which  was  made  upon  Gen 
eral  La  Grange,  that  the  reward 
which  had  been  offered  may  have 
been  a  reason  for  this  undue  negli 
gence,  on  the  part  of  Colonel  Pritch- 
ard,  and  his  men,  occasioned  this 
unfortunate  collision,  yet  it  is  diffi 
cult  to  forget  the  promptness  with 
which  Colonel  Pritchard  claimed  the 
reward  for  himself  and  men. 

I  cannot  forbear  noting,  that  with 
respect  to  the  blame,  the  following 
at  least  must  be  admitted.  General 
Wilson  said  Colonel  Harnden  was 
not  to  blame.  Colonel  O.  H.  La 
Grange  said  that  Colonel  Harnden 
was  not  to  blame.  The  committee 
of  Congress  exonerated  me.  Some 
attempt  was  made  to  place  some 
blame  on  Sergeant  George  Hussey, 
who  commanded  my  advance  guard, 
but  I  exonerate  him  from  any  blame 
and  certify  that  he  acted  as  a  brave 


62  The  Capture  of 

and  experienced  soldier  should  act, 
when  challenged  in  the  dark  by  one 
whom  he  believed  to  be  an  enemy. 

The  memory  of  that  sad  collision 
has  been  with  me  through  all  these 
succeeding  years.  Three  of  the 
brave  men  of  my  command  have 
carried  their  crippled  forms  through 
life  as  the  result  of  what  might 
have  been  easily  prevented.  And 
though,  it  is  with  deep  regret,  I  feel 
justified  in  calling  attention  to  those 
passages  in  the  official  records  which 
seem  to  bear  upon  the  question  as 
to  who  is  to  blame  for  the  collision. 

It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to 
leave  upon  record  a  testimonial  of 
my  respect  for  the  bravery  and  the 
character  of  the  men  who  composed 
the  First  Wisconsin  Cavalry,  a  regi 
ment  which  had  a  splendid  military 
record,  much  of  which  has  never 
been  recorded,  and  which  will  now 


Jefferson  Davis.  63 

be  soon  forgotten,  as  the  men  who 
composed  the  regiment  are  fast  re 
ceiving    their    final   discharge  from 
duty.       This   regiment    was    in  the 
Second  Brigade,  First  Division  Cav 
alry  Corps,  Military  Division  of  the 
Mississippi,   Army  of  the  Cumber 
land.      The  corps  was  commanded 
by  Major-General  James  H.  Wilson; 
the  division  by  Major-General  E.  M. 
McCook;  the  brigade  by  Colonel  O. 
H.  La  Grange,  and  the  regiment  by 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Henry  Harnden. 
This   regiment   was   raised   by  Pro 
fessor  Edward   Daniels,  State  Geol- 
gist,  and  he  became  its  first  Colonel. 
It  went  into  camp  in  July,   1861,  at 
Ripon,  and  was  at  first  quartered  in 
the  college  buildings,  and  afterwards 
quartered  in  tents  at  Kenosha  until 
it  left  the  State.      The  regiment,  as 
a  whole,  or  in  part,  was  in  between 
fifty   and  sixty    engagements    with 


64  The  Capture  of 

the  enemy,  and  lost  by  death  four 
hundred  and  three  men.  My  own 
original  company  (L)  lost  forty-nine 
men.  The  first  chaplain,  George 
Dunmore,  was  killed.  The  first 
surgeon,  Dr.  Gregory,  was  also 
killed,  and  among  the  killed  were 
L'eutenant-Colonel  Wm.  H.  Tor- 
rey,  Major  Nathan  Payne,  Lieuten 
ant  Wm.  J.  Phillips,  Lieutenant  Shel 
don  E.  Vosberg.  A  number  of  the 
officers  died  by  disease,  among 
whom  were  Major  Henry  L.  Eg- 
gleston,  Lieutenant  Josiah  Bent, 
Lieutenant  Geo.  W.  Frederick, 
Lieutenant  William  S.  Cooper,  Lieu 
tenant  Charles  W.  Clinton;  while 
Lieutenant  Charles  N.  Hoag,  and 
Lieutenant  Henry  W.  Getchell  died 
of  disease  or  wounds  in  rebel  prisons; 
and  Colonel  O.  H.  La  Grange  was 
taken  prisoner  and  remained  in  con 
finement  for  a  long  time. 


Jefferson  Davis.  65 

Of  the  forty-eight  commissioned 
officers  that  went  out  with  the  regi 
ment,  only  four  of  the  original  ones 
were  mustered  out  with  it  July  19, 
1865,  when  the  regiment  was  mus 
tered  out  of  service  of  the  United 
States,  at  Edgefield,  Tenn.  Of  the 
twelve  original  Captains,  there  are 
only  two  or  three  yet  living. 

The  men  seemed  to  be  picked 
men,  and  I  recall  many  instances  of 
their  bravery  and  devotion  to  duty. 
At  the  time  of  the  collision  with  the 
Fourth  Michigan,  it  was  difficult  to 
restrain  them  from  charging  upon  a 
force  apparently  greatly  superior  in 
numbers,  and  I  remember  when 
I  gave  Lieutenant  Clinton  the 
order  to  prepare  for  a  saber  charge, 
two  of  his  men  understanding  that 
I  ordered  the  charge,  drew  their 
sabers,  gave  spur  to  their  horses, 
and  were  half  way  to  the  enemy, 


66  The  Capture  of 

when    I   called    them  back    to    the 
ranks. 

I  am  impressed  with  the  belief 
that  the  importance  of  the  capture 
of  Jefferson  Davis  is  sometimes  over 
looked,  as  being  in  reality  the  close 
of  the  war.  After  his  capture  there 
was  no  one  left  of  prominence  or 
influence  in  the  southern  confeder 
acy,  who  believed  that  the  war 
could  continue.  All  reports  make 
it  clear  that  he  had  not  yet  given 
up  hope  of  in  some  way  carrying  on 
hostilities  further,  and  there  were  in 
the  south  a  great  many  men  who 
would  willingly  have  joined  him  had 
it  been  possible.  Were  it  not  for  his 
capture,  he  very  likely  might  have 
crossed  the  Mississippi  to  General 
Kirby  Smith,  and  there  have  gath 
ered  together  the  troops  of  the  trans- 
Mississippi,  and  have  continued  the 
war  for  a  long  period,  entailing  a 
further  great  loss  of  life. 


Jefferson  Davis.  67 

It  is  well-known  that  after  his 
flight  from  Richmond  he  refused  to 
consider  his  cause  hopeless,  and  was 
determined  to  continue  the  war  even 
after  his  generals  in  the  East,  at  a 
council,  had  decided  that  further 
fighting  was  useless. 

It  has  always  been  painful  to  me 
to  think  that  in  some  respect,  at 
least,  Jefferson  Davis  was  personally 
responsible  for  much  of  the  suffering 
of  the  poor  men  who  starved  to  death 
in  Andersonville  and  Libby  prisons. 
During  the  months  of  March  and 
April,  1865,  when  the  south  would 
have  been  short  of  provisions,  if 
ever,  Major-General  Wilson  with  his 
Cavalry,  and  with  not  less  than  fif 
teen  thousand  men  and  eighteen 
thousand  animals,  passed  down  from 
Alabama  to  Selma,  on  the  Alabama 
river,  thence  east  through  to  Mont 
gomery,  and  on  to  Macon,  Georgia. 


68  The  Capture  of 

We  foraged  off  the  country,  and 
lacked  nothing  in  the  way  of  food 
for  men  or  animals.  We  found  grain 
enough  to  feed  our  horses,  and  ham, 
bacon,  and  sweet  potatoes  for  all 
the  men,  and  this,  it  must  be  re 
membered,  was  only  comparatively 
a  short  distance  from  Andersonville, 
where  thousands  of  Union  soldiers 
were  starving  to  death.  I  am  im 
pressed  with  the  belief  that  Jeffer 
son  Davis  might  have  prevented 
much  of  that  suffering,  and  that  he 
more  than  any  other  one  man,  was 
responsible  for  the  same. 

Is  it  true,  as  stated  in  some  pa 
pers,  that  some  Pennsylvania  and 
Illinois  troops  were  there? 

It  is  not  true.  There  were  none 
but  the  First  Wisconsin  and  Fourth 
Michigan  Cavalry  present. 


Jefferson  Davis.  69 

How  was  it  that  the  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  reward  offered  for 
the  capture  of  Davis  was  at  first  all 
awarded  to  the  Fourth  Michigan 
Cavalry? 

I  was  kept  on  duty  with  the 
First  Wisconsin  Cavalry  down  in 
Georgia  until  the  following  July, 
when  we  were  marched  to  Nash 
ville,  Tennessee,  and  mustered 
out  of  service.  In  the  meantime 
Colonel  Pritchard  had  an  opportu 
nity  to  visit  Washington  and  tell 
his  story,  and  the  consequence  was 
that  the  whole  was  first  awarded  to 
the  Michigan  regiment. 

For  some  unaccountable  reason 
my  official  report  was  delayed  in 
reaching  Washington,  and  for  some 
time  I  made  no  claim  to  any  share 
in  the  reward,  supposing  that  Davis 
would  be  tried  and  executed,  and 
in  that  case  I  would  not  have  taken 


70  The  Capture  of 

what  might  be  considered  blood 
money;  but  when  it  became  certain 
that  he  was  not  to  be  punished,  I 
went  to  Washington  and  laid  before 
Congress  a  claim  on  behalf  of  the 
First  Wisconsin  Cavalry  to  a  share 
of  the  money. 

A  committee  of  Congress  was  ap 
pointed,  of  which  Mr.  Washburn,  of 
Massachusetts,  was  chairman,  to 
investigate  the  whole  matter.  After 
due  consideration,  this  committee 
unanimously  reported  that  General 
Wilson,  Colonel  Pritchard,  Captain 
Yeoman,  and  myself  should  receive 
three  thousand  dollars  each,  and 
that  the  balance  should  be  divided 
among  those  who  were  actually  pres 
ent  and  took  part  in  the  capture, 
according  to  rank  and  pay,  the  mem 
bers  of  each  regiment  being  treated 
alike.  I  was  exonerated  from  all 
blame  for  the  collision. 


Jefferson  Davis.  71 

When  the  bill  as  reported  came 
before  the  house,  every  republican, 
except  the  five  members  from  Mich 
igan,  voted  for  it. 

In  closing  this  narrative,  I  am  re 
minded  that  as  the  colored  man 
primarily  was  the  cause  of  the  war, 
so  it  was  a  colored  man  who  really 
brought  it  to  a  close.  I  refer  to  my 
colored  servant  Bill,  who  was  an 
unusual  character.  Just  how  he  came 
to  be  my  servant,  I  scarcely  know. 
He  attached  himself  to  me  quite 
early  in  the  last  campaign,  and  re 
mained  with  me  until  the  regiment 
was  mustered  out.  He  was  ener 
getic,  faithful,  devoted  and  intelli 
gent,  far  beyond  the  average.  He 
always  knew  how  to  forage,  and  I 
could  safely  trust  him  to  provide  me 
with  something  to  eat,  even  though 
hams  and  chickens  could  not  be 


72  The  Capture  of 

found  by  other  foragers.  It  was  he 
who  brought  to  me  the  information 
without  which  the  capture  would 
have  been  impossible.  It  has  been 
to  me  a  source  of  regret  that  he 
did  not  share  more  largely  in  the 
reward  which  was  given.  When  I 
left  him,  he  was  made  happy  in  the 
possession  of  an  old  mule  and  some 
means  of  transportation,  and  had 
already  formed  new  plans.  I  am 
thoroughly  convinced  that  had  he 
not  been  along  with  me  on  that  ex 
pedition  I  should  have  known  noth 
ing  of  Jefferson  Davis  having  been 
through  Dublin  on  that  day,  and  on 
the  morrow  I  should  have  crossed 
the  Oconee  River,  and  gone  on  to 
wards  Savannah,  and  Jefferson  Davis 
would  have  escaped  capture,  and 
very  likely  got  over  the  Mississippi 
River  to  General  Kirby  Smith. 
In  preparing  this  narrative  of  the 


$100,000 


1  •' 


Hi'p  ,'juarlrrs  t'«v.  t  6rp^ 
Military    IMn>-i<m  ?»|ississiii|»i1 

-  ^^"*  •' 

Otic  Hundred  Thaiivaiiil^DoUlSpK  Reward 


in.  Gold,  will  ^>e  paid  to  any  person  or  persorts  who  w\\    a| 
prehendftntl  deliver  JEFPERS'>M  OAVIS  to  any  of  th« 
itary  authorities  of  the  United  States? 

S<-.....,l    ...III,,.,,,    ,.C   ,|,«CU,    r«por(fa    to    IfT    HUh    h""l     **'"    l".'<--nic   •!><•       '' 


COPY  OF  A  HANDBILL  PICKED  UP  IN  GEORGIA  AFTER  THE  WAR. 

[From  a  Reduced  Facsimile  in  The  Century.'} 


Jefferson  Davis.  73 

circumstance  of  the  capture  of  Davis, 
I  have  been  assisted  by  the  state 
ments  furnished  me  by  many  of  my 
old  comrades  in  arms,  some  of 
which  I  here  subjoin.  It  has  been 
a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  renew 
after  nearly  a  third  of  a  century  my 
associations  with  them  by  letter, 
and  to  read  the  kind  expressions  of 
good-will  which  they  have  sent.  I 
realize  that  the  present  is  no  time 
for  prejudice  and  passion  to  control 
the  hearts  of  the  old  veterans  so  near 
the  end  of  the  final  march.  I  have 
endeavored  only  to  state  the  facts 
as  correctly  as  possible,  using  all( 
sources  of  information  at  my  com 
mand,  realizing  too  the  frailty  of 
human  memory,  and  how  possible  it 
is  for  even  the  best  and  the  most 
sincere  to  be  mistaken. 

To  my  old   comrades  in  arms,  to 
whom  this   narrative   may   come,    I 


74  The  Capture. 

can  only  express  my  deep  and  fer 
vent  regards  and  best  wishes  for 
your  remaining  years,  while  waiting 
for  your  final  summons  when  the 
general  assembly  shall  once  more  re 
form  all  the  ranks  of  our  old  regi 
ment. 


I. 

Statement  of  Sergeant  Hussey. 

My  name  is  George  G.  Hussey;  I  was 
a  sergeant  in  Company  D,  First  Regi 
ment,  Wisconsin  Cavalry.  I  was  one  of 
a  detachment  of  the  First  Wisconsin 
Cavalry  under  Colonel  Henry  Harnden 
sent  in  pursuit  of  Jeff.  Davis,  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and 
I  was  present  at  his  capture.  It  was  on 
the  morning  of  May  10,  1865,  and  before 
daylight  that  we  were  called  to  stand  to 
horse.  It  was  then  that  Colonel  Harn 
den  said  to  me:  "Sergeant  Hussey,  you 
will  take  six  men  and  ride  a  little  in  ad 
vance,  keep  a  sharp  lookout  and  report 
to  me  anything  you  see,  for  we  are 
close  up  to  the  enemy,  and  will  prob 
ably  strike,  them  this  morning,  so  be 
very  careful.  March."  I  then  led 
out,  the  Colonel  with  the  main  col 
umn  following  close  behind.  It  was 
quite  dark  and  the  track  we  were  follow 
ing  was  only  a  trail  through  the  pine 
[751 


76  The  Capture  of 

woods.  We  went  forward  about  one  mile 
or  so  when  suddenly  out  of  the  darkness 
came  the  challenge,  "Halt,  who  comes 
there?"  I  answered,  "Friends."  Then 
came  the  order,  "Dismount  and  come 
forward  and  let  yourself  be  known."  I 
could  just  see  the  forms  of  men  about 
twenty  or  thirty  yards  away,  and  seeing 
there  was  a  large  number  of  them  I 
spoke  to  my  men  to  retreat,  as  we  turned 
our  horses  about,  I  shouted  "Go  to  hell." 
At  this  they  fired  a  volley  which  wounded 
three  of  my  six  men.  Turning  back  we 
soon  met  Colonel  Harnden  coming  up 
on  a  gallop  at  the  head  of  a  squad  of 
men.  I  told  the  Colonel  that  we  had 
run  into  their  pickets,  and  that  some  of 
my  men  were  killed  or  wounded.  The 
Colonel  said,  "Get  out  of  the  way  and 
let  us  get  at  them."  I  then  got  my  men 
out  of  the  road,  and  the  Colonel,  with 
his  men,  went  forward  at  a  gallop,  but 
they  soon  received  a  volley  which  checked 
them  for  a  moment,  the  balance  of  the 
men  coming  up,  the  Colonel  got  them 
into  line  and  then  charged  upon  the  en 
emy,  but  before  doing  so,  the  enemy  gave 


Jefferson  Davis.  77 

us  the  third  volley,  firing  too  high  to 
do  us  much  harm.  We  drove  them  be 
fore  us  into  a  swamp  where  one  of  them 
was  captured,  and  from  this  prisoner  we 
learned  to  our  great  surprise  that  our 
opponents  were  Union  soldiers,  and  of 
the  Fourth  Michigan  Cavalry. 

The  camp  of  Jeff.  Davis  was  near  at 
hand,  and  his  capture  was  effected 
shortly  after  the  collision  took  place. 

Not  having  any  intimation  of  the  pres 
ence  of  Union  troops  in  that  vicinity, 
and  after  being  so  strictly  cautioned  by 
the  Colonel  to  look  out  for  the  enemy,  I 
feel  that  I  should  have  been  derelict  in 
duty  had  I  obeyed  the  challenge  to  dis 
mount  and  gone  forward  and  surrendered 
myself  and  men,  and  thus  let  the  column 
go  on  into  a  trap  and  been  slaughtered, 
as  certainly  would  have  been  the  case 
had  our  opponents  been  enemies,  as  we 
had  every  reason  to  suppose  they  were. 
I  have  since  learned  that  some  of  the 
officers  of  the  Fourth  Michigan  Cavalry, 
those  that  so  wickedly  waylaid  us,  in 
their  report  say,  that  the  collision  was 
caused  by  the  improper  conduct  of  the 


78  The  Capture  of 

sergeant  in  command  of  the  advance  of 
the  First  Wisconsin  Cavalry,  and  his  im 
proper  reply  when  challenged. 

Now  if  was  I  blamable,  I  submit  to  any 
old  soldier,  what  should  I  have  done  un 
der  the  circumstances?  Colonel  Harnden 
and  General  La  Grange,  whose  opinion  I 
value  more  than  all  of  the  officers  of  the 
Fourth  Michigan,  say  that  I  did  right 
and  acted  as  a  good  soldier  should  have 
done  under  the  circumstances.  The 
Lieutenant  in  command  of  the  party, 
who  so  recklessly  fired  upon  us,  says  in 
his  report  that  he  challenged  when  we 
were  eighteen  or  twenty  rods  away,  and 
pretends  to  give  quite  a  conversation  be 
tween  him  and  me.  Now  I  held  no  con 
versation  with  him  except  what  I  have 
related,  and  further  it  is  not  at  all  likely 
that  any  talk  such  as  he  describes,  could 
have  been  heard  at  a  distance  of  eighteen 
or  twenty  rods  apart  in  a  thick  wood; 
the  idea  that  men  could  have  been  seen 
so  far  away,  is  simply  preposterous,  and 
only  told  to  try  to  justify  him  in  his 
wantonly  firing  upon  a  party,  whom  he 
had  every  reason  to  believe  were  Union 


Jefferson  Davis.  79 

men.  The  collision  which  was  thus  in 
augurated  resulted  in  the  death  of  two 
of  the  Michigan  soldiers,  and  the  wound 
ing  of  several  of  both  regiments. 

GEORGE  G.  HUSSEY, 
Late  Sergeant  Company  C, 
First  Wisconsin  Cavalry. 

II. 
Statement  of  Clark  W.  Seeley. 

STATE  OF  MINNESOTA,  / 
COUNTY  OF  JACKSON,   f 

Clark  W.  Seeley,  being  duly  sworn  on 
oath,  says:  "I  was  a  private  soldier  of 
Company  D,  First  Wisconsin  Cavalry 
Volunteers.  On  the  morning  of  May 
10,  1865,  I  was  with  the  command  of 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Harnden.  Sergeant 
George  Hussey,  myself,  and  five  others 
were  detailed  to  ride  in  advance,  and  or 
dered  to  keep  a  sharp  lookout  ahead,  for 
the  Colonel  expected  we  would  strike 
Jeff.  Davis'  escort  that  morning.  We  had 
marched  a  mile  or  so,  when  we  were 
halted  by  some  one  a  few  rods  in  ad 
vance  of  us  in  the  dark,  who  said:  "Who 
comes  there  ? "  Hussey  answered, 


8o  The  Capture  of 

"Friends."  We  were  ordered  to  dis 
mount  and  come  forward,  which  Hus- 
sey  refused  to  do,  and  ordered  us  to  re 
treat,  which  we  did.  As  soon  as  we 
moved,  the  halting  party  fired  a  volley 
into  us,  wounding  Gus  Sykes  and  myself, 
and  I  think  Apply.  We  retired  a  few 
rods,  and  immediately  the  Colonel,  with 
his  command,  coming  as  agreed  upon. 
Sykes  and  I  dismounted  here,  and  the 
rest  moved  on  after  the  firing  party.  We 
had  no  ambulance  with  us.  After  day 
light  Sykes  and  I  were  put  in  one  of  the 
captured  ones,  and  sent  with  the  Fourth 
Michigan.  When  we  got  back  to  the 
ferry  the  same  day,  where  Colonel  Prit- 
chard  had  left  some  of  his  men  the  day 
before,  we  camped  for  the  night.  These 
men  came  crowding  around,  and  asked 
how  it  happend  that  they  fired  into  the 
Wisconsin  men.  Some  of  them  answered 
and  said:  "We  were  ordered  to  fire,  so 
we  fired,  but  we  knew  they  were  Union 
cavalry  by  the  rattle  of  the  sabers' 
scabbards."  I  heard  several  say  the  same. 
At  the  same  time  some  one  said:  "Well, 
who  will  get  the  reward?"  and  one  of  the 


Jefferson  Davis.  81 

men  who  had  been  with  us  said:  "We 
will,  of  course,  we  have  got  Jeff.  Davis." 
I  asked  them  what  reward,  and  one  re 
plied:  "Didn't  you  know  there  is  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  reward  for  the 
capture  of  Davis?"  I  said  no,  I  did  not. 
He  said:  "Well,  there  is."  I  replied  to 
him:  "If  that  is  so,  I  now  know  why 
Pritchard  ran  around  us  when  he  said  he 
was  going  to  stay  at  the  ferry."  I  heard 
the  reward  talked  of  by  other  Michigan 
men,  frequently  in  the  next  few  days. 
CLARK  W.  SEELEY, 
Company  C,  First  Wisconsin  Cavalry. 
Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me, 
this  26th  day  of  February,  1896. 

E.  G.  GRIMES, 
Notary  Public,  Jackson  County,  Minnesota. 

III. 

Verified  copy  of  the  pocket  diary  of  W. 
O.  Margrave,  Sergeant  Major  of  the 
First  Wisconsin  Cavalry,  relating  to 
the  capture  of  Jefferson  Davis,  on  May 
10, 1865. 

"On  May  6,  1865,  lying  in  Macon, 
Georgia,  part  of  our  regiment,  Colonel 
Harnden  in  command,  was  ordered  out 


82  The  Capture  of 

to  the  south  to  look  out  for  and  try  and 
intercept  Mr.  Davis,  who  was  reported 
to  be  trying  to  make  his  escape  after  the 
surrender  of  General  Lee.  At  5.00 
o'clock  P.  M.  one  battalion  of  our  regi 
ment  started  on  the  expedition. 

Sunday,  May  7,  1865,  very  warm.  We 
are  out  on  hunt  for  old  Jeff.  Davis. 
We  hope  that  we  may  drop  on  him. 
Travelled  all  last  night,  reaching  Marion 
at  break  of  day,  making  about  twenty- 
three  miles.  No  news  of  Jeff.  yet.  Left 
company  A  to  guard  cross  roads,  and 
patrol  the  vicinity,  without  stopping  only 
to  feed  horses  and  get  dinner;  pushing 
on  to  Dublin,  reaching  there  about  5:00 
o'clock  P.  M.,  making  about  forty-five 
miles  from  Macon. 

Monday,  May  8,  1865.  Cloudy,  with 
quite  a  rain  at  noon,  and  light  showers 
in  afternoon.  Broke  camp  at  4:00  o'clock 
A.  M.,  and  on  strength  of  information 
gained,  though  not  very  conclusive, 
started  south  on  the  Jacksonville  road, 
along  which  we  pushed  some  distance, 
gaining  some  more  confirmatory  infor 
mation.  Before  noon,  the  trail  left  the 


Jefferson  Davis.  83 

main  road,  and  took  into  the  pine  woods 
on  an  old  road  leading  to  the  Poor  Robin 
ferry,  on  the  Ocamulgee  river.  Came  to 
the  place  where  the  parties  camped  last 
night  at  noon  to-day.  Went  into  camp 
at  night  about  twenty  miles  from  the 
Poor  Robin  ferry. 

Tuesday,  May  gth.  Cool  and  pleasant 
after  the  rain.  Broke  camp  at  the  grey 
of  day  and  started  on  the  trail,  some 
times  very  indistinct  through  pine 
woods,  and  swamps  indescribable,  reach 
ing  the  Poor  Robin  ferry  at  11:00  o'clock 
A.  M.  Took  one  and  three-quarters 
hours  in  crossing  our  detachment,  num 
ber  about  seventy  in  all.  Halted  an 
hour  to  feed  at  noon  at  Abbeville,  and 
just  as  our  bugle  sounded  the  advance, 
six  or  seven  mounted  men  in  our  uni 
forms  charged  by  us  on  another  road 
which  came  in  here.  We  were  suprised 
somewhat,  thinking  that  none  of  our 
forces  were  in  the  vicinity.  They  proved 
to  be  the  Fourth  Michigan.  Our  colonel 
stopped  and  communicated  to  the 
colonel  of  the  Fourth  Michigan,  Colonel 
Pritchard,  what  information  he  had 


84  The  Capture  of 

gained  in  regard  to  Davis  and  his  party, 
and  asked  the  colonel  of  the  Fourth 
Michigan  what  his  orders  were,  and  he 
informed  our  colonel  that  he  was  to 
guard  the  ferry  and  patrol  the  river  to 
guard  against  Davis  crossing.  We  pushed 
on,  following  the  Davis  trail,  sometimes 
quite  distinct,  and  at  others  faint.  At 
about  9:00  o'clock  p.  M.  our  Colonel 
called  a  halt,  and  gave  me  orders  to  have 
the  men  rest  on  their  arms,  and  told  me 
to  wake  the  men  at  3:00  o'clock  A.  M., 
not  sounding  the  bugle,  and  to  send  a 
sergeant  and  six  men  in  advance. 

Wednesday,  May  loth,  broke  camp  at 
3:45,  with  Sergeant  Hussey  and  six  men 
in  advance.  Had  made  only  about  two 
miles  when  three  volleys  were  fired  on 
our  advance,  wounding  two  or  three  of 
our  men.  Forward  was  the  word  from 
our  brave  Colonel,  and  it  found  a  quick 
response  from  every  heart,  for  we  thought 
of  course  that  we  had  struck  the  camp  or 
forces  of  the  arch-traitor,  and  the  resolve 
was  to  conquer  or  die.  Our  number  was 
only  sixty-five  or  seventy  men.  The  or 
der  was  given  to  prepare  to  fight  on  foot, 


Jefferson  Davis.  85 

and  at  the  order,  forward   we  went,  at 
double  quick  to  the  front,  in  the  face  of 
a  deadly  fire  from  a  supposed  desperate 
foe.     The   firing  was   incessant.     They 
had  twenty  to  thirty  dismounted  men,  the 
same  that  had  fired  on  our  advance  guard, 
well   posted,   and   had   covered    behind 
trees,  but  they  were  soon  dislodged,  and 
driven  like  chaff  before  the  wind.     By 
this  time  a  larger  mounted  force  con 
fronted  us,  but  were  soon  thrown   into 
confusion  and  were  driven  by  our  brave 
boys  half  or  three-quarters  of  a  mile  into 
a   narrow   swamp  or   swale,  and   within 
fifty  or  sixty  rods  of  the  Davis   camp. 
Here  we  took  two  prisoners  which,  to 
our  great  surprise,   proved    to   be    the 
Fourth    Michigan    Cavalry.      At   which, 
our  Colonel  ordered  firing  stopped,  we 
could  hardly  believe  our  eyes,  the  light 
was  now  strong  enough  to  distinguish 
their    uniforms.       Our     feelings    could 
hardly  be  described  or  imagined.     Sor 
row   and   regret,  yet  not   unalloyed,  for 
Jeff,  and   his  train  were  captured.     We 
had  done  our  duty,  and  the  responsibil 
ity  of  the  collision  must  be  on  the  Colo- 


86  The  Capture  of 

nel  of  the  Fourth  Michigan.  I  cannot 
explain  it  otherwise.  His  love  of  noto 
riety  had  warped  his  sense  of  honor  and 
justice.  He  had  selected  about  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  of  his  best  mount  imme 
diately  after  learning  what  he  did  from 
our  Colonel,  and  had  determined  to 
snatch  the  prize  from  our  grasp  if  possi 
ble,  and  by  a  forced  march  had  got  ahead 
of  both  us  and  Jeff.'s  train,  and  had 
thrown  the  twenty  or  thirty  men  across 
the  trail,  between  us  and  Jeff.'s  camp,  the 
same  that  had  fired  on  our  advance,  and 
while  we  were  fighting,  they  had  captured 
Jeff.,  but  I  don't  envy  their  position  when 
the  facts  became  known.  We  had  driven 
them  a  half  mile  or  more,  and  had  we 
not  taken  a  prisoner  and  thus  found  that 
we  were  fighting  our  own  men,  we  would 
have  recaptured  the  train  in  less  than, 
twenty  minutes.  The  fight  lasted  twenty 
or  thirty  minutes.  Our  loss,  two  or  three 
wounded,  two  severely,  and  two  horses 
shot.  Their  loss,  two  men  killed,  and  a 
number  wounded.  The  object  of  the 
expedition  having  been  accomplished, 
Jeff,  captured,  soon  as  the  wounded  were 


Jefferson  Davis.  87 

cared  for,  and  some  breakfast  gotten,  we 
started  on  our  way  back  to  Macon  via 
Abbeville." 

And  I  would  further  state,  that  in  ad 
dition  to  the  foregoing,  copied  from  my 
diary,  that  immediately  after  the  capture 
of  Jeff.  Davis,  in  talking  with  the  Fourth 
Michigan  men,  I  charged  them  with  firing 
on  us,  knowing   that  we  were  not  Jeff. 
Davis1  men,  and  they  admitted  that  they 
thought   they  were   firing  on  us,  and  I 
further  asked  them  why  they  did  so,  and 
in  reply  they  said,  that  they  had  to  obey 
orders.     I    then  asked  them  what  their 
orders  were,  and  they  told  me  that  their 
orders  were  to  allow  no  one  to  approach 
from  that  direction,  and  further,  on  our 
return,  after  the  capture,  when  we  reached 
Abbeville,   from  there  into  Macon,    the 
road  was  strewn  with  handbills  offering 
the   reward   of    one   hundred    thousand 
dollars  for  the  capture  of  Davis,  and  this 
was  the  first  information  that  we  had  that 
there   was  any  reward  offered  for  Davis' 
capture. 

This  to  my  mind  explained  why  the 
Colonel  of  the  Fourth  Michigan  ran  the 


88  The  Capture  of 

risk  and  acted  the  part  he  did,  in  trying 
to  snatch  the  prize  from  our  grasp. 
W.  O.  HARGRAVE, 

Ripon,  Wis. 

STATE  OF  WISCONSIN,      \ 
FOND  DU  LAC  COUNTY.   \   ' 

W.  O.  Hargrave,  being  duly  sworn,  on 
oath,  says  that  the  annexed  and  foregoing 
is  a  true  copy  of  the  original  diary,  kept 
by  him  while  in  the  army  of  the  United 
States  during  the  War  of  the  Rebellion— • 
a  member  of  the  First  Wisconsin  Cavalry; 
that  the  entries  in  said  diary  were  made 
at  the  time  of  the  occurrences  to  which 
they  relate,  and  while  all  the  facts  were 
fresh  in  his  memory;  that  he  has  care 
fully  compared  said  copy  with  said  orig 
inal  diary,  and  that  it  is  a  true  transcript 
therefrom  and  the  whole  thereof,  as  to 
the  incidents  to  which  such  copy  relates. 
W.  O.  HARGRAVE. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me, 
this  1 2th  day  of  October,  1897. 

A.  E.  DUNLAP, 
Notary  Public,  Wisconsin. 


Jefferson  Davis.  89 

IV. 

Affidavit  of  J.   J.   Appling,  Orderly    of 
Colonel  Harnden. 

STATE  OF  SOUTH  DAKOTA,  \  gs 

MARSHALL  COUNTY.  ( 
J.  J.  Appling,  being  duly  sworn  on 
oath,  says  that  "On  May  9,  1865,  I  was 
orderly  for  Colonel  Harnden,  commander 
of  the  First  Wisconsin  Cavalry.  When 
in  pursuit  of  Jefferson  Davis,  about  noon 
of  that  day,  we  met  the  Fourth  Michigan 
Cavalry,  and  I  was  present  at  a  conver 
sation  which  then  and  there  took  place 
between  Colonel  Pritchard  of  the  Fourth 
Michigan  Cavalry,  and  Colonel  Harnden, 
of  the  First  Wisconsin  Cavalry.  In  re 
sponse  to  the  question  asked  by  Colonel 
Harnden  of  Colonel  Pritchard  as  to  his 
orders,  Colonel  Pritchard  replied  that 
his  orders  were  to  go  to  Abbeville  and 
patrol  the  river  at  that  place,  and  he  then 
and  there  told  Colonel  Harnden  that  he 
should  observe  those  orders.  Colonel 
Harnden  then  informed  Colonel  Pritch 
ard  that  for  several  days  he  had  been  fol 
lowing  Jefferson  Davis,  and  that  clearly 
before  night  he  would  have  him.  At  this 


go  The  Capture  of 

information  Colonel  Pritchard  asked 
Colonel  Harnden  to  take  one  hundred 
and  fifty  of  his  best  mounted  men  to  as 
sist  in  the  capture.  Colonel  Harnden  re 
plied  that  he  had  enough  to  take  Davis 
and  his  escort.  Shortly  after  this  con 
versation,  the  Fourth  Michigan  Cavalry 
started  for  the  river,  Colonel  Harnden 
and  myself  going  back  as  far  as  where 
our  command  had  taken  the  trail  of 
Davis,  and  rejoined  the  regiment.  I  was 
present  at  the  collision,  which  occurred 
between  the  First  Wisconsin  and  the 
Fourth  Michigan  Cavalry,  and  immedi 
ately  after  the  capture  of  Jefferson  Davis, 
in  a  conversation  with  the  orderly  of 
Colonel  Pritchard,  he  told  me  that  there 
was  a  reward  of  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars  for  the  arrest  of  Jefferson  Davis, 
Clement  C.  Clay,  and  I  think  some  others. 
This  was  while  we  were  still  on  the 
ground  where  the  capture  took  place,  and 
this  was  the  first  time  that  any  of  the 
First  Wisconsin  knew  anything  of  any 
reward  having  been  offered.  In  the  same 
conversation,  the  orderly  told  me  that 
after  Colonel  Harnden  and  myself  had 


Jefferson  Davis.  91 

left  the  place  where  the  two  Colonels 
had  their  conversation,  that  Colonel 
JPritchard,  after  arriving  at  the  river 
where  he  was  to  stay  for  orders,  at  once 
gave  orders  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  of 
his  best  mounted  men  to  charge  down 
the  river  towards  Irvingville,  to  which 
place  Colonel  Harnden  had  said  Davis 
was  going,  and  get  between  Davis  and  us, 
and  check  us  while  the  main  command 
came  along  and  capture  Davis. 

J.  J.  APPLING, 

Co.  K,  first   Wisconsin  Cavalry,  detailed 
as  orderly  for  Colonel  Harnden. 
Subscribed   and   sworn  to   before  me 
this  7th  day  of  February,  1898. 

W.  O.  CAMPBELL, 

Clerk  Circuit  Court,  Marshall  County, 
South  Dakota. 


92  The  Capture  of 

V. 

Affidavit  of  Gus  W.  Sykes,  Private  of 
Company  D.,  First  Wisconsin. 

CATTLE  FALLS,       ) 
WASHINGTON  STATE.  \   ^ 

Gus.  W.  Sykes,  being  duly  sworn  on 
oath,  with  respect  to  the  facts  of  the  cap 
ture  of  Jefferson  Davis,  says:  "I  was  one 
of  the  advance  squad  on  the  morning  of 
May  10,  1865,  advancing  upon  Davis' 
camp.  As  we  were  advancing,  we  were 
challenged  by  what  proved  to  be  the 
Fourth  Michigan  Cavalry,  and  by  what 
we  supposed  was  the  guard  of  the  ambu 
lances,  which  we  were  following.  There 
was  only  one  man  to  be  seen;  as  he  chal 
lenged,  Sergeant  George  Hussey  replied 
'Friends.'  The  man  standing  in  the  road 
said,  'Who  are  you?'  Hussey  replied, 
'Some  of  your  own  men.'  Hussey  then 
turned  to  his  men  saying,  'Save  your 
selves.'  " 

Some  of  the  boys  behind  us  had  partly 
turned  around.  I  then  said  to  Hussey, 
"You  are  not  obeying  orders,"  for  as  I 
had  been  in  charge  of  the  advance  guard 


Jefferson  Davis.  93 

the  day  before,  I  remembered  that  my 
orders  were  to  charge  if  I  saw  anything 
that  looked  suspicious,  and  we  were  all 
in   favor  of   a  charge,  but    before  I  had 
scarcely  spoken  the  words,  they  began 
firing,  and  at  the  second  volley,  Clark 
Seeley  and  myself  were  badly  wounded. 
My  honest  opinion  is  there  was  no  one 
to  blame  but  Colonel  Pritchard.    I  could 
have  twisted  his  old  neck  for  him  when 
I  found  it  out.     I  talked  with  the  lieu 
tenant  in  charge  of  the  pickets,  and  he 
said  Colonel  Pritchard  told  him  to  look 
out,  there  were  one  hundred  and  sixty 
Texas  rangers  camped  out  on  the  road 
one  and  a  half  miles.     He  did  not  tell 
me  that  there  were  Union  soldiers  com 
ing    on    that   road,  which    he,   Colonel 
Pritchard,  knew,  but  the  lieutenant  did 
not.     The  above  are  the  facts,  just  as  I 
saw  them. 

Gus.  W.  SYKES. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me, 
this  iQth  of  March,  1898. 

N.  B.  WHEELER, 
Justice  of  the  Peace. 


94  The  Capture  of 

VI. 
From  the  National  Tribune. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  April  2,  1896. 

E.  Richter,  Company  D,  First  Wiscon 
sin  Cavalry,  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  says: 
"In  your  issue  of  March  i2th,  General 
Minty  gives  an  account  of  the  doings  of 
this  Fourth  Michigan  Cavalry  during 
the  war.  I  have  no  reason  to  doubt  but 
that  the  boys  of  that  regiment  were  as 
brave  as  any  other  soldiers,  but  when 
any  one  of  that  regiment  claims  credit 
for  the  capture  of  Jefferson  Davis,  it  sets 
my  bood  boiling,  knowing  the  circum 
stances,  and  that  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Pritchard  had  two  of  his  brave  men  mur 
dered,  and  several  wounded  to  accom 
plish  his  act  of  treachery  toward  his  fel 
low  officer,  Colonel  H.  Harnden  of  the 
First  Wisconsin  Cavalry. 

The  less  they  say  about  the  capture  of 
Davis  the  better  for  them,  for  the  blood 
of  the  brave  men  killed  and  wounded,  in 
the  contest  between  the  Fourth  Michi 
gan  and  the  First  Wisconsin  is  upon 
Colonel  Pritchard.  For  particulars  i 


Jefferson  Davis.  95 

refer  you  to  the  official  report  of  Colonel 
Harnden,  dated  May  13,  1865,  endorsed 
by  Colonel  O.  H.  La  Grange,  then  com 
manding  brigade  and  on  file  in  War 
Record  office,  War  Department,  Wash 
ington,  D.  C." 

Signed,  FRED  RICHTER. 

VII. 

Endorsement  Upon  Colonel  Harnden's 
Report  of  the  Capture  of  Jeff.  Davis. 

Headquarters,  Second  Brigade,  First 
Cavalry  Division,  M.  D.  M.,  Macon, 
Georgia,  May  14,  1865. 

Respectfully  forwarded. 
From  this  report  it  appears  that  Lieu 
tenant-Colonel  Harnden  faithfully  dis 
charged  his  duty  and  no  blame  can  at 
tach  to  him  in  relation  to  the  unfortunate 
collision  between  his  detachment  and 
Colonel  Pritchard's,  which  he  had  every 
reason  to  believe  remained  at  Abbeville. 
It  is,  however,  a  source  of  painful  regret 
that  the  satisfaction  experienced  in  this 
consummation  is  clouded  by  the  knowl 
edge  that  an  act  having  every  appearance 


96  The  Capture  of 

of  unsoldierly  selfishness  in  appropria 
ting  by  deception  the  fruits  of  another's 
labors,  and  thus  attaining  unearned  suc 
cess,  resulted  in  unnecessary  bloodshed 
and  a  sacrifice  of  lives  for  which  no 
atonement  can  be  made.  What  may  have 
been  intended  merely  as  an  act  of  bad 
faith  toward  a  fellow  soldier,  resulted  in 
a  crime,  and  for  this  closing  scene  of  the 
rebellion,  inglorious  in  itself,  but  historic 
by  circumstances,  it  is  difficult  to  repress 
a  wish  that  accident  had  not  afforded  the 
Government  a  Representative  above  sus 
picion. 
(Signed)  O.  H.  LAGRANGE, 

Colonel  Commanding. 

VIII. 
Letter  from  General  O.  H.  LaGrange. 

259  W.  136  St.,  N.  Y., 

4th  Feb'y,  1898. 
GENERAL  HENRY  HARNDEN: 

Madison ,  Wis. 

Dear  Friend:  My  recollection  of  the 
Davis  capture  is  as  follows:  General 
Wilson  sent  for  me  and  said:  "Captain, 
Yeomans,  of  General  Alexander's  scouts, 


Jefferson  Davis.  97 

has  found  Mr.  Davis  in  upper  Georgia 
near  little  Washington,  where  Bob 
Toombs  lives,  and  is  moving  south,  trail 
ing  the  confederate  party,  and  I  want  to 
send  and  capture  the  party.  Have  you 
a  battalion  that  you  can  send  for  that 
purpose?"  I  replied,  "yes,  I  can  send  a 
good  battalion  in  fair  condition  from  the 
First  Wisconsin." 

He  asked,  "Are  the  horses  shod  and 
in  condition  for  a  long  rapid  march?"  I 
answered,  "General,  the  First  Wisconsin 
is  always  in  condition  to  march  or  fight." 
He  then  asked,  "Have  you  a  suitable  of 
ficer  to  put  in  command?"  I  said,  "Yes, 
Henry  Harnden,  an  old  puritan,  who  will 
follow  the  trail  to  the  death,  and  I  think 
he  would  rather  kill  Davis  than  catch 
him."  Wilson  then  showed  me  his  com 
munication  from  Captain  Yeomans,  and 
said,  "Davis  is  evidently  making  for 
Texas  to  join  Kirby  Smith,  but  we  will 
cut  him  off."  I  replied,  "If  Mr.  Davis  is 
wise,  he  will  turn  east  when  he  finds  you 
are  here  and  try  to  get  out  through 
Florida  to  Nassau."  He  then  produced 
a  map  which  he  examined,  and  then 


98  The  Capture  of 

said,  "I  will  send  two  battalions,  by  dif 
ferent  routes,  to  make  sure  of  catching 
him.  I  am  concerned  for  the  safety  of 
Captain  Yeomans,  he  is  very  venture 
some."  General  Croxton  then  came  in, 
and  General  Wilson  told  him  briefly  the 
news  from  Yeomans,  and  asked,  "Can 
you  send  a  battalion  for  the  pursuit?" 
General  Croxton  who,  in  the  absence  of 
General  McCook,  was  in  command  of 
the  First  Division,  explained  that  "the 
horses  of  his  brigade  had  been  so  used 
up  by  the  raid  through  Tuscaloosa  that 
he  did  not  think  a  battalion  in  condition 
for  a  long  rapid  march  could  be  selected 
from  the  whole  brigade."  General  Wil 
son  said,  "all  right,  I'll  send  to  Minty." 
He  then  asked  me,  "How  long  before 
your  battalion  will  be  ready  to  march?" 
I  answered,  "In  five  minutes  after  I  reach 
camp,  and  I'll  run  my  horse  all  the  way." 
As  I  reached  the  door  to  come  out,  leav 
ing  him  and  Croxton  together,  General 
Wilson  called  out:  "LaGrange,  I  think 
one  of  these  parties  will  capture  Mr. 
Davis,  there  will  be  some  eclat  about  it. 
Don't  you  want  to  go  in  command  of 


Jefferson  Davis.  99 

both  detachments?"  I  replied,  "If  Mr. 
Davis  had  a  brigade  down  there,  I'd  like 
to  take  the  Second  and  whip  him,  but  I'll 
be  damned  if  I  want  to  turn  constable 
after  the  war  is  over."  All  this  is  very 
distinct  in  my  mind  because  I  wrote  it 
down  in  a  letter  at  that  time,  which  let 
ter  I  have  recently  re-read. 

I  think  Generals  Wilson  and  Croxton 
were  preparing  your  instructions  when  I 
left,  and  if  you  received  them  from 
Croxton,  it  was  to  save  time  and  because 
he  was  commanding  our  Division  tem 
porarily  in  McCook's  absence. 

But  I  wish  to  emphazize  the  fact,  that 
I  designated  you  for  the  duty,  as  I  have 
no  doubt  General  Wilson  will  remember. 
When  you  returned  and  sent  in  your  ad 
mirable  and  very  modest  report,  I  imme 
diately  endorsed  it,  and  sent  a  copy 
through  Division  Headquarters  to  the 
Corps  Headquarters,  and  another  to  save 
delay  direct  to  General  Wilson. 

The  next  morning  the  General  said  to 
me,  "You  were  very  severe  on  Colonel 
Pritchard  in  your  endorsement  of  Harn- 
den's  report,  won't  you  withdraw  the  pa- 


loo  The  Capture  of 

per  and  modify  your  endorsement?"  I 
replied,  "The  facts  are  severe  on  Colonel 
Pritchard,  my  endorsement  is  true,  and 
it  must  stand."  After  arguing  ineffectu 
ally  to  show  me  the  unwisdom  of  differ 
ences  among  ourselves  now  that  the  war 
was  over,  the  General  said,  "Well,  if  you 
insist,  don't  you  think  Colonel  Pritchard 
ought  to  have  a  copy  of  the  paper?"  I 
replied,  "I  sent  him  a  copy  by  the  same 
messenger  who  brought  yours."  The 
General  asked,  "What  will  you  do  if  he 
calls  you  out?"  I  replied:  "I  will  hit 
him,  and  have  some  respect  for  him  af 
terwards,  but  a  man  who  will  do  what 
Colonel  Pritchard  has  done  will  never 
call  anybody  out." 

You  know  the  story  of  how  your  re 
port  with  my  endorsement,  finally  reached 
the  files  of  the  War  Department  through 
Fred.  Richter.  I  do  not  remember  when 
we  got  news  of  the  reward  offered  for 
Davis,  though  I  think  I  saw  the  posters 
making  the  announcement.  General 
Wilson  no  doubt  would  recall  it  all  dis 
tinctly.  Possibly  Pritchard's  regiment 
was  camped  across  the  river  from  town, 


Jefferson  Davis.  101 

and  did  not  see  the  posters  which  came 
out  after  you  had  marched.  I  would  be 
lieve  Pritchard's  statement  that  he  did 
not  know  of  the  reward  until  after  the 
capture,  but  for  his  dastardly  conduct  to 
wards  you  in  the  pursuit.  I  do  not  be 
lieve  his  statement  because  his  conduct 
took  from  him  all  credit  as  a  man,  and 
lying,  or  perjury,  or  subornation  of  per 
jury,  would  be  natural  for  one  who  had 
deceived  a  fellow  soldier  to  his  injury,  in 
the  face  of  the  enemy.  When  General 
Wilson  sent  me  to  Washington  with  let 
ters  to  General  Grant,  General  Howard, 
and  Charles  A.  Dana,  Assistant  Secretary 
of  War,  I  handed  to  General  Hawkins,  of 
General  Grant's  staff,  a  copy  of  a  recom 
mendation  which  had  been  approved  by 
General  Wilson,  that  "the  reward  be  used 
to  create  a  pension  for  the  soldiers  who 
were  wounded,  and  the  families  of  those 
who  were  killed  in  the  encounter  between 
your  detachment  and  Pritchard's."  Gen 
eral  Hawkins  came  out  of  General 
Grant's  room  into  his  own,  where  I  was 
sitting,  and  said,  "The  General  will  en 
dorse  his  approval."  Whether  that  rec- 


102  The  Capture. 

ommendation  went  to  the  files,  or  went 
to  hunt  my  endorsement  on  your  report, 
I  never  knew  or  asked.  In  fact  I  never 
read  the  accounts  of  the  controversy  over 
the  reward  as  published  in  the  newspa 
pers,  I  was  too  busy  reading  law  at  Al 
bany.  But  one  thing  I  knew  then  and 
know  now,  and  that  is  that  your  conduct 
was  manly,  patriotic  and  honorable,  as 
became  your  character,  throughout  that 
complicated  matter,  and  I  trust  that  with 
health  fully  restored,  you  may  long  con 
tinue  to  enjoy  the  esteem  and  honor  of 
your  fellow  citizens  and  comrades  of  the 
volunteers. 

Always  your  friend, 

O.  H.  LAGRANGE. 


List  of  officers  and  men  of  the  First  Wis 
consin  Cavalry,  engaged  in  the  pursuit 
and  capture  of  Jefferson  Davis. 

Henry  H'arnden,  Lieutenant-Colonel. 
O.  P.  Clinton.  Second  Lieutenant,  Co.  B. 
W.  O.  Hargrave,  Sergeant-Major. 
James  J    Aplin,  Private,  Company  K. 
Austin  M.  Horr,  Sergeant,  Company  A. 
David  N.  Bell,  Private,  Company  A. 
William  Billsback,  Private,  Company  A. 
Martin  M.  Coleman,   Private,   Company  A. 
William  Dezer,  Private,  Company  A. 
John  Huntamer,  Private,  Company  A. 
Gottlieb  Kleinlein,  Private,  Company  A. 
Sidney  Leonard,  Private,  Company  A. 
James  McStilson,  Private,  Company  A. 
Geo.  W.  Silsbee,  Private,  Company  A. 
Christopher  Steinbrook,  Private,  Compa'y  A. 
Herbert  Shelter,  Private,  Company  A. 
Luther  L.  Blair,  Sergeant,  Company  B. 
Melvin  T.  Olin,  Sergeant,  Company  B. 
John  Clark,  Sergeant,  Company  B. 
Thomas  P.  Culbertson,  Corporal,  Comp'yB. 
James  H.  McCrary,  Corporal,  Company  B. 
Ezra  H.  Stewart,  Corporal,  Company  B. 
Albert  L.  Beardsley,   Private,    Company  B. 
103 


104  The  Capture  of 

Thomas  Coleman,  Private,  Company  B. 
Rawson  P.   Franklin,  Private,  Company  B. 
Sylvester  Fairbanks,  Private,  Company  B. 
William  Gill,  Private,  Company  B. 
William  Grimes,  Private,  Company  B. 
Lewis  Jacobson,  Private,  Company  B. 
Honore  Leverner,  Private,  Company  B. 
William  Matski,  Private,  Company  B. 
Ira  Miller,  Private,  Company  B. 
John  L.  Nolan,  Private,  Company  B. 
John  W.  Norton,  Private,  Company  B. 
Warren  P.  Otterson,  Private,  Company  B. 
Stephen  Poquette,  Private,  Company  B. 
William  A.  Spangler,  Private,  Company  B. 
Frederick  Steinfield,  Private,  Company  B. 
Joseph  Smith,  Private,  Company  B. 
George  D.  Wright,  Private,  Company  B. 
John  Wagner,  Private,  Company  B. 
George  G.  Hussey,  Sergeant,  Company  D. 
J.  M.  Wheeler,  Sergeant  Company  D. 
G.  W.  Sykes,  Corporal,  Company  D. 
L.  P.  Pond,  Corporal,  Company  D. 
Joseph  Myers,  Corporal,  Company  D. 
George  D.  LaBordle,  Corporal,  Company  D. 
Nelson  Appley,  Private,  Company  D. 
P.  H.  Anderson,  Private.  Company  D. 
Donald  Brander,  Private,  Company  D. 
F.  A.  Bublitz,  Private,  Company  D. 
J.  S.  Burton,  Private,  Company  D. 


Jefferson  Davis.  105 

Lawrence  Bird,  Private,  Company  D. 
Joseph  Beguen,  Private,  Company  D. 
A.  J.  Craig,  Private,  Company  D. 
Thomas  Day,  Private,  Company  D. 
Thomas  Dixon,  Private,  Company  D. 
Jerrod  Fields,  Private,  Company  D. 
James  Foley,  Private,  Company  D. 
Jacob  Gusch.  Private,  Company  D. 
D.  H.  Goodrich,  Private,  Company  D. 
Lewis  Hartung,  Private,  Company  D. 
N.  M.  Hephner,  Private,  Company  D. 
C.  Helgerson,  Private,  Company  D. 
Henry  Hamilton,  Private,  Company  D. 
A.  E.  Johnson,  Private,  Company  D. 
John  Ludwig,  Private,  Company  D. 
M.  F.  Nickerson,  Private,  Company  D. 
P.  W.  O' Heron,  Private,  Company  D. 
J.  A.  L.  Pooch,  Private,  Company  D. 
Alexander  Pengilly,  Private,  Company  D. 
Arne  Renom,  Private,  Company  D. 
Jerome  Roe,  Private,  Company  D. 
Herman  A.  Stone,  Private,  Company  D. 
John  Spear,  Private,  Company  D. 
Henry  Seidenburg,  Private,  Company  D. 
J.  A.  Warren,  Private,  Company  D. 
C.  W.  Seely,  Private,  Company  D. 
Bill,  colored  servant,  Private,  Company  D. 


AN  INITIAL  PINE  OP 

' 


OVERDUE. 


DAY 


YB  37797 


Ml.81781 


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